THE SADDLERS are back in Banks's Stadium action with the visit of Championship outfit, Coventry City.
2 - The visitors had the ball in the net early on when a cross drilled in from the left by Chris Hussey was turned home from close range by Gary McSheffrey but he was ruled offside
12 - A robust challenge on Alex Nicholls by Ben Turner gave The Saddlers a free-kick which Richard Taundry delivered into the area only for the Sky Blues to clear their lines.
16 - Troy Deeney's persistence forced a corner which was half-cleared as far as Richard Taundry whose ambitious drive from distaance dipped just wide of the target.
21 - A free-kick in a promising position saw Matt Richards' effort easy for Keiren Westwood in the Sky Blues' goal.
25 - Long ball forward by Manny Smith saw Richard Taundry give chase and use his strength well, however Keiren Westwood was alert to gather. Then Troy Deeney found space just in side the area in the next attack only for his strike to be blocked as Alex Nicholls lashed the rebound wide.
27 - Walsall getting into their stride and starting to ask a few questions of the visitors.
29 - Some slick passing from The Saddlers ended with the ball being fed to Troy Deeney who fired wide.
31 - A positive dart forward from the left-back position by Chris Stokes ended with him firing in a shot that flashed narrowly wide of the target.
38 - A low drive from Freddy Eastwood was spilled by David Bevan in the Walsall goal, but he recovered to block as Roy O'Donovan looked to capitalise upon the rebound.
44 - Darren Byfield seized upon some hesitation in defence to win the ball and stride towards goal. His eventual low effort crept just wide with Keiren Westwood scrambling across his goal.
45 - On stroke of half-time, David Bevan had to punch clear on a couple of occasions following a Coventry corner which saw Roy O'Donovan cause problems.
HALF-TIME: Walsall 0 Coventry City 0
47 - After Darren Byfield had caused problems in front of goal, the next attack saw Byfield's low ball in cleverly dummied by Alex Nicholls to present Paul Marshall with shooting chance which Keiren Westwood did well to tip over.
51 - Carl Baker tried his luck for Coventry but his attempt failed to trouble David Bevan.
55 - A strike from Aron Gunnarsson took a heavy deflection that took it over as David Bevan back-peddled.
60 - Coventry took the lead when Freddy Eastwood hit a sweet strike that flew beyond the despairing dive of David Bevan and into the far corner of the net to make it 1-0.
62 - The Saddlers looked to hit back straight away as Chris Stokes found himself in an advanced position only to be brought down. The referee allowed play to continue as Darren Byfield picked up the ball, but from an excellent position he failed to hit the target, poking the ball wide, and a good opportunity was lost.
64 - There was a double substitution for Walsall as former Coventry man, Julian Gray replaced Alex Nicholls and Steve Jones came on for Matt Richards.
76 - A further change came when Clayton McDonald replaced Manny Smith in the heart of the back-line.
84 - Manager, Chris Hutchings took the opportunity to introduce our three first-year professionals as Jamie Paterson replaced Darren Byfield, George Bowerman came on for Troy Deeney and Alx Hickman took the place of Oliver Lancashire.
86 - Jamie Paterson played in Steve Jones who was denied as he looked to make room for a shooting opportunity.
87- Further changes saw Darryl Westlake replace Aaron Lescott and Sean Geddes come on for the busy Richard Taundry.
90 - The visitors grabbed a second late on when a cross from the left was headed back across goal by Jordan Clarke and Shaun Jeffers had the simple task of finding the net from virtually on the line to make it 2-0.
FULL-TIME: Walsall 0 Coventry City 2
PHOTOS: David Linney Photography
