The Saddlers made two forced changes to the side which beat Barnet with Darren Wrack and Craig Pead coming into the starting eleven for Michael Dobson and Chris Westwood, it is believed that The Saddlers captain Dobson missed the game with a sore throat and Westwood who was substituted early on in the first half against Barnet last week, with a hamstring injury.

The home side started off the better of the two sides and went the closest to scoring the opening goal when Neil Wainwright’s inviting cross from the right wing, which caused hesitation from The Saddlers’ defence but Gregg Blundell didn’t react quick enough to give his side the lead.

Darlington looked lively early on, however with 15 minutes of the first half gone, Walsall right back Craig Pead picked out Kevin Cooper with a fantastic cross-field pass, The Saddlers loanee made a run down the left wing before he cut inside to unleash a shot but it went well over Sam Russell’s goal.

The Saddlers had to be alert on 22 minutes when their defence showed some more hesitation in front of goal, which gave Martin Smith the confidence to take a shot at goal but Craig Pead hooked the ball of the line, although in the aftermath to this incident Clayton Ince and Anthony Gerrard went face to face, as Ince tried to command his area.

At the other end, Kevin Harper and Martin Butler linked up well to release left back Daniel Fox out wide and the Liverpool born defender managed to whip in a dangerous cross, which was met by the head of Martin Butler, but the ball flied narrowly wide of Sam Russell's goal.

In the next worthwhile attack the home-side earned themselves a corner where loanee David Wheater came up to head an unmarked header towards goal which was lacking power, however if former Saddlers’ loanee Julian Joachim got a touch on the ball it almost certainly would have been a goal for the home side.

Hector Sam was then booked for dissent, when he saw a decision go against him on 33 minutes following a foul on Darlington’s David Rowson.

As the first half was coming to an end, Kevin Cooper then earned a corner for the visitors, the flag kick was poor from the Saddlers and Darlington managed to clear the ball as far as Craig Pead at the far side of the penalty area, where he whipped a low cross back into the box, which found its way to Darren Wrack who failed to hit the target under pressure.

Clark Keltie played a high ball into the box, which caused problems for Walsall ‘keeper Clayton Ince, who managed to gather the ball at the second attempt as Joachim hunted for scraps in the danger zone.

On the hour-mark, long serving midfielder Darren Wrack, who was playing in a central midfield role set loanee Kevin Harper racing away out wide and his powerful cross just evaded Martin Butler in the middle.

Swedish striker Par Cederqvist came on to replace Hector Sam after 67 minutes as Richard Money’s men looked to steal three points.

A quickly-taken corner towards Scott Dann, who’s weak header found it’s way to Martin Butler who failed to turn the ball home from close range as the home side got men back to clear.

With just fifteen minutes gone, Kevin Cooper was replaced by Kris Taylor, after the midfielder on loan from Cardiff City took a couple of knocks.

The final whistle went with The Saddlers coming home from the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena with just a point, which disappointed The Saddlers faithful.  The Saddlers are now five points behind the league leaders Hartlepool United.

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