THE SADDLERS started the month of November on the FA Cup trail with a romantic first round tie against local non-Leaguers, Stourbridge.

The game was played in front of a packed house at the War Memorial Athletic Ground and Chris Hutchings' side were made to work hard for their 1-0 victory courtesy of Steve Jones' sweet strike.

We returned to League matters with a solid 2-0 home victory over Stockport County in the next game.

An expertly-taken free-kick from Matt Richards plus a typical deadly finish from Darren Byfield were enough to secure the three points.

A trip to a wet and windy Brentford followed as Walsall found themselves second best for much of the opening period and duly went in at the break a goal behind.

It was a different story in the second period as the in-form Steve Jones levelled matters and we looked the most likely side in the closing stages, however, we had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Oldham Athletic were the next visitors to the Banks's Stadium and were swept aside by an efficient and solid-looking Saddlers.

Troy Deeney opened the scoring on 20 minutes as Steve Jones doubled the advantage right on the stroke of half-time.

In between, Lee Hills was sent off for The Latics for a crude challenge on Steve Jones right on the touchline.

Their misery was complete in the second half as Deeney weighed in with his second goal of the evening to complete a comprehensive 3-0 win - our third home triumph in a row.

The month ended with our second trip to Brentford in the space of a week as we turned our attentions back to the FA Cup.

With a place in the third round up for grabs, The Saddlers never got going and fell to an early goal from Leon Legge, who was making his home debut for The Bees.