Walsall suffered a disappointing defeat away at Plymouth Argyle.

Ryan Taylor scored a brace either side of substitute Antoni Sarcevic’s goal to give the Pilgrims all three points. 

Darrell Clarke made three changes to the team that drew 0-0 with Newport County on Tuesday. 

Callum Cockerill-Mollett,  Gary Liddle and Josh Gordon came in for Cameron Pring, James Hardy  and Caolan Lavery.

Walsall made a decent start but it was the hosts who got the opening goal on 13 minutes when Danny Mayor’s through ball down the channel found Callum McFadzean who cut it back across to Taylor and the striker turned the ball into the net from close range. 

Walsall responded well and had their first effort on target through Josh Gordon who forced Alex Palmer into save with a 25-yard pile driver. 

Both sides had decent chances minutes before half time. 

Elijah Adebayo forced a save out of Palmer with a low drive before the Pilgrims went down the other end and were only denied by a brilliant save from Liam Roberts who dived to his right to stop Scott Wootton’s close range header. 

Clarke made two changes early in the second half as the Saddlers looked to get back into the game. 

Wes McDonald and Caolan Lavery were introduced and almost had an immediate impact when McDonald’s curling effort went just wide of the post. 

Walsall saw plenty of the ball in the second half but couldn’t make it count. 

Plymouth doubled their lead seven minutes from times when substitute Antoni Sarcevic stroked the ball into the bottom corner. 

The midfielder went from hero to villain just moments later when he was sent off for a late challenge on Stuart Sinclair. 

Plymouth responded well to the red card and sealed the victory with a minute to go when Taylor slotted home his second. 

It was a tough one to take for the Saddlers who dominated for large parts of the second half. 

Walsall take on Grimsby Town at the Banks’s next weekend.