THE SADDLERS came home from a wet and windy Memorial Stadium with a point in a 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers.

The first opening of the game fell to Walsall in the 11th minute when Troy Deeney fired over after cutting inside. There was a superb crossfield ball by Rhys Weston soon afterwards which picked out Lee Holmes who forced a corner which ultimately came to nothing.

Deeney picked up a yellow card for a late challenge near the by-line just before the half-hour mark as both teams tried to play football on the wet surface.

It was The Saddlers who went in front on 37 minutes when Holmes did well out wide on the left to beat his man before crossing perfectly for Edrissa Sonko in the middle who planted a header beyond Steve Phillips in the home goal.

The goal seemed to bring the home side to life and Walsall had to defend in numbers to deny Rickie Lambert before a corner was met with a firm header from Craig Hinton who was just off target.

A corner right on the stroke of half-time was curled in dangerously by Holmes but as Scott Dann and Anthony Gerrard came up to make their presence felt, the ball just skidded wide.

Richard Money's men came out for the second period in a clean new kit, with red shorts instead of the yellow shorts that they wore in the first half.

It was Rovers who posed the most early questions as some brave play by Weston and them Dann saw them block shots from Pipe and Campbell before top scorer Lambert put a curling effort inches wide.

Ince denied Lambert on 50 minutes when he got down well to save his towering header from a corner.

More resolute defending was required from The Saddlers on the hour as Pipe put in an inviting low ball into the danger zone which Ince was alert to gather.

At the other end, a free-kick from Michael Dobson was put over the crossbar before Deeney almost found a way through the heart of the Rovers' back-line only to be denied by a sliding tackle as he closed in on goal.

It was a full-blooded affair with both sides working hard in difficult conditions. There was a scramble in the goalmouth which ended with a Rovers' shot deflected away from goal after Ince had punched clear a high ball into the area.

An error by Ince required Gerrard to clear from in front of goal as Rovers upped the pressure in search of an equaliser.

There were three substitutions in quick succession for Walsall as Alex Nicholls came on for Dobson, Richard Taundry replaced Deeney and Ishmel Demontagnac took the place of the on-loan.

After Rigg had gone close for the home side with a low shot, Sonko latched onto a through-ball before taking the ball around  the advancing Phillips only to fire into the side-netting from a difficult angle.

The home side equalised with five minutes to go when Lambert linked up with Rovers' substitute Craig Disley who fired low into the far corner to earn a share of the spoils.