With fellow promotion rivals Swindon Town and MK Dons’ games postponed it was a chance for Richard Money’s men to extend their lead at the top of League 2 with 3 points from this encounter at Victoria Park, meanwhile Hartlepool were hoping to extend their unbeaten run to 13 games.

The Saddlers boss Richard Money made three changes to the side that drew against Rochdale last week with Tony Bedeau, Mark Wright and Par Cederqvist coming into the starting line up for Hector Sam who was dropped to the bench, Anthony Gerrard who missed the game through injury and Darren Wrack who was dropped out of the 16 completely and January signing Geordie Lyall was selected to sit on The Saddlers’ substitutes bench.

These changes meant The Saddlers’ lined up with Clayton Ince in goal, Craig Pead, Daniel Fox, Chris Westwood and scorer of that stunning equalising goal last week against Rochdale Scott Dann, in midfield were Mark Wright, Tony Bedeau, Dean Keates and Walsall captain Michael Dobson with Martin Butler and Par Cederqvist upfront.  On the substitute bench for Richard Money’s men were goalkeeper Bertrand Bossu, Kris Taylor, Ishmel Demontagnac, Hector Sam and hoping to make his Saddlers debut Geordie Lyall.

It was The Saddlers who came out looking as if they wanted to win this game, forcing a couple of early corners, the second of which the second of which was only half-cleared in which one was cleared as far as Scott Dann who played in Martin Butler who gave Walsall the lead early on.

The home side who haven’t been defeated in the since the start o November, were not at there best in the first twenty minutes, Michael Dobson set Par Cederqvist racing away and managed to beat Hartlepool ‘keeper Konstantopoulos to the ball before whipping a cross in towards Martin Butler but the Hartlepool defence got back to clear the danger. 

In the 17th minute Hartlepool made their first meaningful attack when Saddlers’ captain Michael Dobson had to clear a James Brown cross at the near post before it found its way to Eifion Williams.  Shortly after it was Daniel Fox who had to clear a dangerous ball into the box when Richie Barker beat Craig Pead out on the left before invitingly crossing the ball low into the danger zone.

Walsall were now having to defend everything Hartlepool were throwing at them, in hope of keeping the 1-0 lead that Martin Butler gave them early on, and as the home side started to enjoy plenty of possession, it was looking more and more difficult for Richard Money’s men to do so.

Just past the half hour mark, The Saddlers had to defend for their lives, in a goal line scramble after Richie Barker had an effort blocked but Tony Bedeau managed to clear the danger after blocking a Gary Liddle effort. There were then bookings for Par Cederqvist on 36 minutes after he tangled with Michael Nelson, then shortly afterwards local boy Dean Keates saw yellow for a late challenge on Gary Liddle.

With the interval nearing Hartlepool’s Antony Sweeney took the initiative and tried is look with a shot from distance after spotting Saddlers ‘keeper Clayton Ince off his line, but the ball was dragged wide.  The half ended with Martin Butler getting his name in the book for what looked like decent.

Walsall made one half time substitution with Tony Bedeau been brought off and replaced by Kris Taylor, but it was the home side Hartlepool United who started off the brighter of the two teams and like The Saddlers did in the first half, they forced a number of corners early on as they still looked for this equalising goal.

The lively James Brown caused more and more problems out wide as the game went on, a corner kick taken by Richie Humphreys was headed towards goal by Ben Clark but Clayton Ince managed to tip the ball over the bar for another Hartlepool corner.  However it was from this flag kick Hartlepool scored the equalising goal, when Michael Nelson found space to power home his header.

Richard Money’s men tried to regain the lead straight away with a Michael Dobson found the head of defender Scott Dann who failed to hit the target with his head, the minutes later Mark Wright broke clear down the right but his cross was easy for Hartlepool ‘keeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos to gather.

With Hector Sam replacing Par Cederqvist up front, Mark Wright then had another chance to get down the right wing but opted pass to Martin Butler in the middle and his ball in search of Hector Sam was easily cleared.

Ishmel Demontagnac was brought on by Saddlers’ boss Richard Money with just under a quarter-of-an-hour to go as he replaced Mark Wright to add pace and skill into the game and the England youth international had a good chance with time running out when Hector Sam chased a long ball forward and caused more problems before crossing low with Konstantopulos floundering, Demontagnac fired over.

With two minutes left on the clock The Saddlers had a penalty appeal turned down when Butler was played through with a neat through-ball only for Nelson to clearly hold him back inside the area as he prepared to let off with a shot.  The Referee allowed play to continue to the amazement of the 277 travelling fans behind the goal.

Just after The Saddlers’ had that penalty appeal turned down the home side won a free kick in a dangerous position, the free kick was taken short to Humphreys who hit a powerful effort from around 25 yards which took a couple of deflections before finding it’s way past Clayton Ince to give United the lead.

The home side wrapped the game up in stoppage time when Richie Barker appeared to be offside but went through on goal to neatly tuck the ball past Clayton Ince to make it 3-1 and send The Saddlers home with nothing.

The Saddlers will return home to Bescot Stadium on Friday evening with the visitors also been a promotion chasing team Lincoln City and The Saddlers’ will be desperate to get back on form again in front of an audience of thousands, as the game is been shown live on SkySports.  With Richard Money’s men only winning one game at Bescot Stadium, against Grimsby Town which was also selected to be shown live on SkySports.

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