THE MONTH of December kicked off on a wet and windy Tuesday night at Yeovil Town where The Saddlers chalked up an excellent 3-1 success against a side who had only lost once on home soil in the League all season.

Early goals from Darren Byfield and Steve Jones put Chris Hutchings' side well and truly in the driving seat and although the home side grabbed a goal back as well as playing with the wind in their favour during the second half, they could not find their way past a resolute Walsall defence that was superbly marshalled by skipper, Mark Hughes.

The points were made safe towards the end as substitute, Sam Parkin came off the bench to notch the goal that took us up to seventh place in the League One table.

A home clash with Southampton - and our first meeting with The Saints since 1962 - was next up.

The in-form visitors proved just too strong for The Saddlers despite an impressive start from Chris Hutchings' side.

A moment of sheer quality out of the blue from David Connolly set the south coast outfit on their way and shortly afterwards Dean Hammond doubled the advantage.

A third goal just past the hour-mark from Rickie Lambert sealed the win for Alan Pardew's men, although Darren Byfield hit back within a minute to reduce the arrears as he grabbed the 100th goal of his senior career.

Walsall were back on the road seven days later with a trip to the Capital to face Millwall.

Manny Smith struck sweetly to open the scoring with just eight minutes on the clock, only for a second half comeback from The Lions saw them run out 2-1 victors thanks to a brace from Steve Morison - the second of which looked distinctly offside.

Another London outfit provided the opposition in the next game as Leyton Orient arrived at the Banks's Stadium for a pre-Christmas clash that was also our Festive Family Fun Day.

There was no festive cheer as far as Walsall were concerned when The O's built up a two-goal lead within the opening half-an-hour.

In all fairness it was a woeful first half showing from The Saddlers, but within seconds of the restart, Troy Deeney had pulled a goal back to lift the spirits.

The Saddlers were on top for long periods in the second half and deservedly equalised with Deeney's second of the afternoon. It could have been even sweeter had Darren Byfield seized on a glorious chance towards the end, but it wasn't to be as honours ended even.

Our Boxing Day trip to Bristol Rovers fell victim of the winter weather as a frozen pitch saw the game called off.

There was controversy for our final game of the month, at home to Norwich City, when after previously stating that the pitch was playable, the Match Referee overturned his earlier decision and called the game off less than an hour before kick-off.

The condition of the pitch was much better than it was for the Leyton Orient game and the decision left everyone connected with the club frustrated.

It was a sour note on which to end 2009...