THE SADDLERS came home from Carlisle with a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw.

There was some early action for Rene Gilmartin, in as a replacement for Clayton Ince who was away on International Duty, as he blocked well to deny Lewis Neal in the fifth minute after he was played in by Joe Anyinsah.

At the other end, Sofiene Zaaboub's cross was headed just over by Troy Deeney before we had the ball in the back of the net on 12 minutes as Zaaboub's free-kick was flicked on by Deeney and Jabo Ibehre put the ball home only to have his effort ruled out by an offside flag.

The home side went on to take the lead seven minutes later when The Saddlers failed to clear their lines properly and Chris Palmer's block from Neal falls to Paul Thirlwell who fires home off the underside of the crossbar from outside the area to give Gilmartin no chance.

There was a real chance for Cleveland Taylor to double The Cumbrians' advantage at the far post as he received a cross from the left in space, but he blazed well over.

Deeney saw a deft header pushed out by Ben Williams in the home goal as Walsall searched for an equaliser, whilst Anthony Gerrard was called into action at the other end of the field as he headed clear Neal's inviting free-kick into the penalty area.

As half-time approached, Anyinsah broke the offside trap before teeing up Danny Graham who mis-hit his shot and the opportunity was lost. Another break by the home side soon afterwards caused concern for the Walsall defence before Graham was caught offside.

On 43 minutes the lively Neal put in a dangerous low ball that was well gathered by Gilmartin, but it wasn't long before Neal was causing problems again as this time he broke the offside trap only to fire over as he closed in on goal.

It was a real let-off for Chris Hutchings' men who ended the half under pressure, but did have a snap-shot from Ibehre creep just wide of the mark in stoppage time at the end of the opening period.

The second half started with a ball in from the right by Alex Nicholls chested into the path of Stephen Hughes by Deeney, but Carlisle were able to scramble clear for a corner that came to nothing.

There was a double change on the hour as attacking duo Deeney and Ibehre were replaced by Michael Ricketts, back after injury, and loanee, Sam Williams.

A cross from Nicholls was helped on by the head of Ricketts to find Williams in a good position in front of goal but he directed his header over the crossbar.

After a Carlisle free-kick flashed just wide through a crowd of players, Zaaboub was brought down as he cut inside the area and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. With just seven minutes to go, Ricketts stepped up and coolly slotted home to make it 1-1.

Gilmartin did well to hold on to a stinging low drive from Thirlwell before Williams' pull-back from the by-line was cleared ahead of Ricketts but only as far as Mark Bradley who hit a sweet effort that flew narrowly over.

The Saddlers ended the game with a flourish but had to settle for a second successive away draw.