Carabao Cup: Walsall 0 Leicester City 0 (0-3 pens) - Report
Walsall's remarkable journey in the EFL Cup ended in agonising fashion as they were beaten 3-0 on penalties by Leicester City at Bescot.
The Saddlers held the Premier League outfit to a goalless draw in normal time and had two golden chances in either half when Charlie Lakin was denied from close-range and Albert Adomah dragged wide.
Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward denied Taylor Allen, David Okagbue and Liam Gordon from the spot, as Ricardo Pereira, Conor Coady and Oliver Skipp converted to guide the visitors into the next round.
Walsall started brightly and Lakin had a golden chance to score in back-to-back games when he was denied from point-blank range by Danny Ward.
Connor Barrett darted down the right after linking effectively with Ronan Maher and found Nathan Lowe peeling away from his marker. He found Lakin unmarked with a low cutback but Ward plunged to his right to deny him from close quarters.
Leicester dominated possession but Walsall were disciplined in their shape to restrict them to very little in the first half. The closest the visitors came was through Facundo Buonanotte but the Argentinian was unable to get enough purchase on his header from Abdul Fatawu's floated cross.
Lakin had another presentable opportunity on the half-hour mark after Harry Williams' long throw was flicked on towards the back post but the Walsall midfielder was unable to direct the ball on target from an acute angle.
Harry Williams was at the heart of a strong defensive performance in the first period and produced a stunning acrobatic interception to cut out Boubakary Soumare's diagonal ball with Odsonne Edouard lurking in behind.
Walsall looked bright once again after the break and pressed a tentative Leicester into a number of cheap give aways. Lowe pounced on one of those two passes within 90 seconds of the restart but Adomah, on his 700th professional club appearance, could only drag his low finish narrowly wide.
Both sets of fans came together to pay tribute to Premier League winning ex-Leicester assistant and legendary former Walsall midfielder Craig Shakespeare.
The away fans were growing restless and Steve Cooper reached for his bench for the closing stages with the introduction of the likes of Jordan Ayew and Kasey McAteer.
Fatawu was Leicester's biggest threat all evening down the left and he was at the heart of a clutch of half chances for Leicester. His reverse pass found Buonanotte on the right but Edouard could only send a looping finish comfortably into Simkin's hands from the resulting cross.
Fatawu then blazed a volley comfortably wide from the edge of the box, while Simkin was called upon twice to thwart Thomas at his feet before comfortably denying Buonanotte's tame header minutes later.
Walsall went to penalties for the second time in the competition this season but Danny Ward emerged as the hero to save all three of the Saddlers' spot-kicks.
Next, Walsall face Colchester United at home in the early kick-off on Saturday before welcoming Fleetwood Town to Bescot next Tuesday.
Teams
Leicester (4-2-3-1): Ward; Pereira, Coady, Okoli, Thomas; Soumare, Choudhury (Skipp 80); Decordova-Reid (McAteer 80), Buonanotte (El-Khannouss 80), Fatawu; Edouard (Ayew 69).
Not used: Iversen, Justin, Faes, Golding, Alves.
Walsall (3-1-4-2): Simkin; Okagbue, Williams, Weir; Stirk (c); Barrett, Maher (Allen 70), Lakin (Jellis 66), L Gordon; Lowe (Johnson 75), Adomah (Matt 75).
Not used: Hornby, Daniels, Comley, Hall, Browne.
Referee: Dan Nield
Attendance: 8,010 (2,253)
