The Saddlers came from behind to secure a point on the road against Mansfield Town as Elijah Adebayo’s second half strike cancelled out Nicky Maynard’s opener for the Stags.
In a first half that was largely dominated by Darrell Clarke’s side, the goal came against the run of play.
After just 40 seconds, Wes McDonald tried to set the tempo as he took the ball past his full back Kellan Gordon and then delivered a low driven cross across the six-yard box but it was just too far in front of Adebayo.
Five minutes later and Adebayo had the ball in the back of the net following a George Nurse cross but it was unfortunately ruled out for offside.
With 16 minutes on the clock, Emmanuel Osadebe had the Saddlers’ best chance of the half as Farrend Rawson lost his footing inside his own 18-yard box and on the turn, Osadebe had a free shot at Marek Stech but the Town goalkeeper produced a fine save.
It was just after the half hour mark though that the home side broke the deadlock. Following a corner that wasn’t cleared on the edge of the box, George Lapslie scuffed his shot into the path of Maynard who was six yards out and he just slotted the ball past Liam Roberts.
Into the second half and it took Walsall just three minutes to level things up. A surging run down the left by Nurse allowed him to cut the ball back to Adebayo at the back post and he found the bottom corner with a low finish.
Just after the hour mark, the home side had a great chance to go in front. A cross found Maynard five yards out but the striker missed his kick but the ball fell for Harry Charsley 12-yards out but Roberts pulled off a stunning save to keep the scores level.
On 77 minutes, Rory Holden delivered a dangerous cross to the back post but substitute Caolan Lavery could only direct his header into the side netting.
In stoppage time at the end of the second half, it looked as though the Saddlers had found a winner when Osadebe struck a volley sweetly on the edge of the area but his effort cannoned back off the crossbar and that was the final chance of the game as both sides had to settle for a point.