THE SADDLERS fell to a home defeat at the hands of Bristol Rovers on a wet night at the Banks's Stadium.

Walsall were looking to pass the ball around in the opening exchanges on what was a greasy surface.

With six minutes on the clock, Edrissa Sonko conceded a free-kick which Stuart Campbell curled goalwards only for Clayton Ince to gather.

Then a Chris Lines drive was deflected just wide for the visitors as the ball broke to him in space on the edge of the area.

At the other end, Michael Dobson teed up Lee Holmes for a sweet strike that flew well wide before a neat move ended with Holmes playing in Kevin Betsy who broke the offside trap but dragged his shot wide.

Just before the half-hour, the ball rebounded off Manny Smith to Rickie Lambert who fired over. In the next attack, Smith did well to cut out Aaron Lescott's low ball into the danger zone as the rain lashed down.

Rovers took the lead on 33 minutes when Lambert found the net with a deft header that beat Ince's despairing dive.

A speculative long-range attempt by Mooney skidded off the surface and was spilled by Steve Phillips, however The Saddlers had no-one on hand to take advantage of the loose ball as we went in at the break a goal down.

There was a change at half-time as Troy Deeney came on for Sonko.

The visitors had a good early headed chance as both teams came out brightly for the second period.

Holmes won a free-kick on 51 minutes which Richard Taundry delivered invitingly, however Rovers managed to scramble clear under pressure.

There was a double substitution with Dobson and Holmes replaced by David McDermott and Ishmel Demontagnac respectively.

A positive run by Campbell ended with his low shot saved by Ince as Walsall found the visitors hard to break down.

A long ball from David Pipe picked out Lines on the far side but he fired over, whilst at the other end, Betsy caused problems to win a corner that ultimately came to nothing.

There was a real let-off for Richard Money's men with just under 20 minutes to go as firstly Byron Anthony missed a good chance and then the rebound was somehow put wide.

Demontagnac did well to cross from the by-line as Rovers had to clear in front of goal ahead of Mooney who was lurking with intent.

The next action saw Demontagnac booked along with Lescott following an altercation.

With time running out, Rhys Weston's ball in following a short corner was headed over by Alassane N'Dour. Then Demontagnac fed Taundry on the left who did well to pull the ball across goal as Mooney fired wide.

Ince, who was making his 100th appearance for Walsall, then produced a good low save to deny leading scorer Lambert as the game ended in defeat for Richard Money's men.

PHOTO: John Crowe