THERE was a buzz around Banks's Stadium as the game kicked off on a warm summer evening.
2 - Villa were forced to bring off James Collins with an early injury as Steve Sidwell was denied from close range by a fine save from Jonny Brain.
9 - Slight break in play as the assistant referee received treatment for a head wound.
11 - Some tricky wing play by Julian Gray saw him twist and turn before crossing dangerously into the danger zone where Carlos Cuellar had to get in an important clearing header.
14 - As Andreas Weimann looked to break through for the visitors, Jonny Brain was quickly out of his goal to push him wide before his cross was lashed well over by Barry Bannan.
16 - The best chance of the game fell to The Saddlers when a teasing cross from the left was headed towards the far corner of the net by Troy Deeney only for Brad Friedel in the Villa goal to get across and turn the ball around the post. It was a fine save.
19 - Andreas Weimann did well on the left and his cross found John Carew who failed to capitalise from a good position.
20 - It was end-to-end stuff at this stage as Darren Byfield's shot deflected out to Steve Jones whose first-time cross saw Troy Deeney get in front of his marker to get in a deft header that Brad Friedel saved. Straight away at the other end, Jonny Brain had to be alert to head clear outside his area as Andreas Weimann's ambitious effort from distance landed off target.
25 - Some positive play from John Carew saw him progress to the by-line where his pull-back found Andreas Weimann who managed to squeeze the ball home to make it 1-0 to Villa.
31 - Marc Albrighton lashed an effort from distance just over for Villa.
38 - A free-kick from distance fired well over by skipper, Matt Richards as the game entered something of a lull.
40 - Darren Byfield turned the ball in search of Troy Deeney in front of goal, but he failed to make a proper connection and Villa were able to clear their lines. In the next attack, Julian Gray's cross was knocked out for a corner which was headed on by Oliver Lancashire towards Clayton McDonald who was off target with his towering header.
44 - Sloppy play by Villa in defence saw Darren Byfield win the ball to tee up Matt Richards who dragged his low strike wide.
HALF-TIME: Walsall 0 Aston Villa 1
47 - Early action of second period saw Troy Deeney's strike gathered by Brad Friedel.
53 - Good play by Steve Jones saw him cross into the danger zone where Carlos Cuellar was on hand to clear.
55 - After a maraauding run from John Carew, the resulting corner was lashed into the side-netting by Curtis Davies who was up from the back.
62 - Marc Albrighton was denied by Jonny Brain before embarking on a pacy run down the left that ended with his ball setting up a virtual open goal for Andreas Wiemann who somehow hit the post under pressure from Chris Stokes. It was certainly a let-off for Walsall.
64 - Richard Taundry made room for a strike that Brad Friedel got down well to push away. The resulting corner saw Darren Byfield rattle the crossbar as the follow-up flew over.
65 - It wasn't long before Villa doubled their advantage when a powerful drive was blocked by Jonny Brain and Andreas Weimann followed up to convert the loose ball from close range and make it 2-0.
67 - Matt Richards replaced by Paul Marshall and Darryl Westlake replaced by Aaron Lescott.
75 - There was a double change for Walsall as Manny Smith came on for Oliver Lancashire and Alex Nicholls replaced Darren Byfield. It turned out to be an inspired substitution as within seconds, Richard Taundry linked up with Nicholls who guided the ball home to make it 2-1.
80 - Goalkeeper, Jonny Brain was replaced by former Villa youngster, David Bevan.
85 - Two more changes saw Richard Taundry replaced by Sean Geddes and Jamie Paterson take the place of Steve Jones.
90- Clayton McDonald's header cleared from in front of goal before Manny Smith, who was also up from the back for a late corner, also went close to grabbing an equliser right at the death in front of a crowd of 5,735
FULL-TIME: Walsall 1 Aston Villa 2
PHOTOS: David Linney Photography
