A third successive defeat for The Saddlers, is this heading towards an all too familiar relegation dogfight?
It was a dreary, cold and pretty quiet night at The Banks' Stadium for this one and the performance and result undoubtedly did little to brighten the night for the Saddlers fans.
We were all hoping for a bright start for new loan signing Dave Martin from Derby who was handed his debut.In the opening ten minutes, The Saddlers seemed to be attempting to take control of the game, without too much success as neither goalkeeper was really tested. Taundry having an effort looping just over was the closest that we came in the early exchanges.
On 13 minutes, Oldham launched their first real attack with the dangerous Chris Taylor being denied by a fine stop by David Grof.
A couple of dangerous looking Oldham free kicks followed, but were well dealt with by the Saddlers defence, and a Ryan Jarvis effort at the other end flew off target.
On the half hour mark, as myself and a lot of other Saddlers fans were expecting, an Oldham goal arrived.
Walsall's failure to clear the ball convincingly gave Chris Taylor a chance which he swept in with the help of a deflection off Andy Butler. A poor goal to give away by anyones standards.
The first half then just seemed to fade out, with nothing more than half chances for either side, until just before the break when Ryan Jarvis' low drive was saved by Oldham goalkeeper Alex Cisak.Half Time Walsall 0 Oldham 1.
As the second period began, the Saddlers seemed to struggle to get a foot on the ball early, and former Walsall loanee Ruben Reid had a low drive caught by David Grof.
Again in the 58th minute, Reid made sure that Grof earned his money, with a looping shot that was clawed out by the young 'keeper, the loose ball was blocked and eventually cleared by the Saddlers defense.
66 minutes in and Deano obviously decided enough was enough and made a double change with Alex Nicholls replacing Will Grigg, and highly rated youngster Jamie Paterson replacing Kevan Hurst.
It was not long before Paterson had his first chance, played in by a more focused looking Adam Chambers, his drive flew overthe bar.
The battle between Reid and Grof continued with Grof again showing his talent by blocking Reid's shot with his feet.The last ten minutes Walsall looked dangerous and like they could snatch a point, Jarvis and Paterson causing the Oldham defence problems, and Adam Chambers having a low drive deflected just wide. The Saddlers won a corner in stoppage time which Andy Butler rose to head, but unfortunately it was straight into the hand of the Oldham stopper.
Richard Taundry smashed a long range effort over the bar in the final act of a disappointing night for Saddlers fans and undoubtedly players
By: Lee Hale