An unbeaten month for The Saddlers...
THE MONTH of April got underway with a Good Friday clash with Notts County at Banks's Stadium.With both teams looking for the points to pull away from the relegation zone, it was a cagey affair. There were chances at either end, but neither team was able to break the deadlock as Richard O'Donnell added another clean sheet on his 100th consecutive appearance for the club.
There was another stalemate at Peterborough United on Bank Holiday Monday but this time, Walsall were on top for long periods against a side that still had play-off aspirations.
The Saddlers played some good football and created numerous chances but failed to find the break-through and in the end we had to settle for another point.
We were back on home soil for the first-ever League visit of Fleetwood Town, another side who could still mathematically reach the play-offs.
Once again, it was Walsall who were the better side and we had to be patient to get our reward as that man, Tom Bradshaw, popped up with an 86th minute winner.
It was a prompt return to home soil three days later as we played host to a struggling Crawley Town.
On a pleasant Spring evening, Walsall tore into our hosts but only had one goal to show for our efforts at the break courtesy of Jordy Hiwula.
We upped the tempo in the second period and were finally rewarded with the goal avalanche that we had been threatening for some time.
Hiwula added a second, whilst Kieron Morris, who was back refreshed and looking lively following a loan spell at Wrexham, also added his name to the scoresheet.
A heavily-deflected Andy Taylor strike added to our tally before Jordan Cook's last minute goal made it 5-0.
There was a road trip to Crewe for our next game.
On a tricky surface and in difficult conditions, The Saddlers failed to live up to our recent standards during the first half and deservedly went in at the break trailing by a goal to nil.
Our fortunes picked up after the restart and a goal from Tom Bradshaw, which went in wiith the aid of a deflection, levelled matters. We ended the game strongly but it finished in a 1-1 draw.
We were back on the road again for the trip to Swindon Town in a fixture that should have been played on the weekend that we were at Wembley Stadium.
The Robins still had a mathematical chance of getting into the automatic promotion places, but the found Walsall a difficult proposition on a good surface.
Kieron Morris opened the scoring and when Jordy Hoiwula capitalised upon a defensive error to make it 2-0 early in the second period, there looked like being only one winner.
That was until the referee awarded the home side a controversial spot-kick and they took full advantage to get back into the game. It galvanised both their players and supporters alike and soon afterwards they were awarded a second penalty to level the scores.
The Saddlers refused to let our heads drop and Romaine Sawyers came off the substitutes' bench to head us back in front with 15 minutes to go.
There was still time for Swindon to hit back and despite a frantic ending, with both sides pressing for the winner, the scoreline finished in an entertaining 3-3 draw.
The busy month came to a close with our final home League game of the season against Oldham Athletic.
Walsall went into the game just one place above The Latics, who were managed by Dean Holden, who started the campaign in the heart of The Saddlers' back-line.
Our visitors had no answer to a confident and lively Walsall side and we found ourselves two goals to the good in quick succession as Tom Bradshaw's brace meant that he reached 20 goals for the season.
The Saddlers never looked in any real danger of losing our lead as we claimed the points in a 2-0 win to move into the top half of the table... a nice way to end the month!
Our one and only game in May is best forgotten as we ended the season with an 8-2 defeat at League One Champions, Bristol City.
Things were going well when Jordy Hiwula gave us the lead before adding a second to send the sides in at 2-2 at the break following a opening period in which we played some neat football on an excellent surface.
A spell of four goals in ten minutes from our hosts blitzed us in the second half as we ended up well beaten and in 14th position in the table - one place below last season, but one point better off than we were last term.