The Saddlers’ pre-season preparations continued with a goalless home draw against Championship side Aston Villa.
Steve Bruce’s Villa were first to threaten in a lively opening, with Gabriel Agbonlahor firing over after a powerful 40-yard run by Andre Green.
Shortly after, home custodian Mark Gillespie was called upon to push away Jordan Amavi’s downward header from Henri Lansbury’s accurate far-post cross.
The Saddlers responded with Erhun Oztumer dragging a 25-yard effort wide and Joe Edwards whistling a crisp left-footed drive narrowly past the post.
Amadou Bakayoko had a golden chance to give Walsall the lead on 18 minutes but the forward fired agonisingly wide after being played clean through by Adam Chambers.
Back came the Villans, with Birkir Bjarnason directing a free header badly wide from Neil Taylor’s centre.
Villa had the ball in the net nine minutes before half-time, new signing John Terry glancing home a lovely header from Conor Hourihane’s corner, but the referee had already blown for a foul.
The visitors were looking dangerous from set-pieces, with the unmarked Amavi heading another Hourihane delivery wide.
That threat continued early into the second half, as Amavi volleyed high over the bar from a corner.
Edwards, the scorer of a terrific goal at Solihull Moors on Saturday, almost grabbed another with a strong run and well-struck shot which curled wide of the far post.
A plethora of substitutions disrupted the game, and it wasn’t until the final minute of normal time that we had another chance – Jordan Lyden having a drive deflected into the side-netting.
Team: Gillespie, Devlin (Kinsella 68’), Guthrie (K Roberts 83’), Wilson (Preston 68’), Leahy, Chambers (Sangha 83’), Cuvelier (Flanagan 61’), Morris (Kouhyar 68’), Edwards, Oztumer (Peters 76’), Bakayoko (Jackson 61’).
Attendance: 7,022 (3,310 Aston Villa supporters).
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