By Neil Ravenscroft
November 3 2004

Despite an unconvincing performance, the Saddlers are into the serious stage of the LDV Trophy, following an away draw at Cheltenham Town last night and a successful (for a change) penalty shoot out. Walsall are through to the stage of the LDV Trophy where teams start to take the competition seriously, as Cardiff beckons.

It wasn't the most convincing of performances, as the team were outplayed at times by Cheltenham last night, but the Saddlers' superior finishing saw them through.

We went behind twice, once in normal time and once in extra time, but were rescued on both occasions by Jorge Leitao goals.

The team saw the return of Bazeley for the dropped Mark Wright and Kris Taylor for the injured Osborn, but the first half was a poor show, with Taylor being particularly disappointing. The change of Daryl Taylor for Kris in the second half did liven things up a little, but it was not a great performance against a team from a lower division.

In the end, after a few extra time scares, the match went to penalties and Walsall won 4 - 3, with Murphy saving two, Bazeley having one saved and Darren Wrack netting the winner.

Last night's full results were:-

Blackpool 6 - 3 Huddersfield (After Extra Time)
Bristol City 2 - 1 Milton Keynes Dons
Cambridge Utd 0 - 2 Leyton Orient
Carlisle 0 - 1 Hartlepool
Cheltenham 2 - 2 Walsall (Walsall win 4-3 on penalties)
Chester 1 - 0 Rochdale
Exeter 1 - 2 Swindon
Hereford 1 - 1 Doncaster (Hereford win 3-1 on penalties)
Macclesfield 4 - 0 Mansfield
Oldham 3 - 2 Accrington Stanley
Southend 4 - 1 Shrewsbury
Torquay 1 - 3 Northampton
Tranmere 2 - 1 Port Vale
Wrexham 2 - 0 Stockport
Wycombe 1 - 0 Swansea

Bristol Rovers and Barnet meet tonight.