Author: David Evans
Walsall slumped to a 1-2 home defeat against Leyton Orient to bring a halt to their unbeaten run. The visitors took an early lead when Ben Purkiss failed to get in a challenge on Lee Cook and the winger sent in a shot which Karl Darlow got nowhere near to. Walsall took a while to get going and just when it seemed they were stepping up a gear found themselves 0-2 down before half time in a bizarre incident. Both teams were waiting for each other to kick the ball into touch when an Orient player was down injured. Instead Dean Cox, from fully 60 yards, hit the ball with power and it rose over Darlow and dipped into the back of the net!
In fairness to the young keeper, he made two good saves in that first half but manager Dean Smith must be wondering how to solve the goalkeeper situation now. Does he keep faith with Darlow or recall David Grof for Saturday's home game with Carlisle United? After the interval Walsall played the football we have become used to this season and when The Saddlers won a penalty it seemed George Bowerman would step up to take it. Instead Will Grigg fired home a perfect penalty to give the home side a lot more hope of getting back into the game. Try as hard as they did, a second simply wouldn't come despite several near misses.
