Walsall’s four match unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end after suffering late heartbreak away at Newport County.
The Exiles opened the scoring early on through Mickey Demetriou before a dramatic end to the first half saw Carl Rushworth save Matty Dolan’s penalty and Tyrese Shade open his account to draw the Saddlers level.
The game looked to be heading for a draw but James Clarke headed home late on to earn the hosts three points.
Head Coach Matt Taylor made two changes to the team that beat Mansfield Town in League Two last Saturday.
Rollin Menayese and Emmanuel Osadebe, who came made his 50th Walsall appearance, came into the starting XI in place of Ash Taylor and Brendan Kiernan.
The hosts started brightly and enjoyed the majority of the possession in the opening exchanges.
They opened the scoring in the ninth minute after a corner caused problems in the Saddlers penalty box and Demetriou steered the ball into the net after a bit of a goalmouth scramble.
Newport continued to have a strong foothold in the first half and the visitors found it difficult to get a sustained period of possession.
The Saddlers did eventually begin to settle into the game and found a bit of joy down the right hand side which saw Kieran Phillips and Hayden White deliver a couple of decent cross but they came to nothing.
Michael Flynn’s men continued to impose themselves though and had a couple of decent opportunities through Cameron Norman and Ollie Cooper late in the half.
Just as it looked like the half was going to end 1-0, referee Lee Swabey awarded Newport a penalty after Hayden White’s challenge was penalised.
Dolan stepped up but Rushworth denied him with a brilliant save low to his right.
That wasn’t the end of the first half drama though as the Saddlers went up the other end through Osadebe who found Shade in space and the winger fired in a powerful strike to draw the visitor’s level right on the stroke of half-time.
The Saddlers were buoyed by their equaliser and saw a lot more of the ball in the early minutes of the second half.
They still had to be wary of the threat of Newport as Monthe’s clearance was charged down and Telford ran through but his placed shot was stopped by Rushworth.
Taylor made his first change just shy of the hour mark as he introduced Kiernan in place of Shade.
Walsall came close to taking the lead on 64 minutes when Jack Earing’s shot took a deflection before it fell to Miller who tried to adjust his body to steer it goalwards but his effort bounced back off the crossbar.
Newport were also a threat in the second half and Rushworth came to the rescue when he parried away Teflord’s powerful effort on 71 minutes.
With 12 minutes to go, Liam Kinsella went down with a knock and was subsequently replaced by Sam Perry.
Rushworth was proving to be the curse of Telford as he once again denied him, this time pushing away his curled shot.
The Saddlers stopper was eventually beaten in the 87th minute when James Clarke stooped to head in what proved to be the winner.