THE SADDLERS slipped to another disappointing away day defeat, this time at Staffordshire rivals and fellow strugglers, Port Vale.

On a sun drenched afternoon in Burslem, Walsall started by enjoying the majority of early possession without threatening Mark Goodlad in the home goal. In fact, it took until the quarter-hour mark for either side to create a real chance when Lee Matthews broke The Saddlers' offside trap but as he closed in on goal and prepared to pull the trigger, Julian Bennett managed to get back and put him off to give debutant goalkeeper, Andy Oakes an easy save to make as he got down low to hold onto the ball.

Walsall's first opening arrived a couple of minutes later as Daryl Taylor used his pace to cut through the Valiants defence only for his stinging shot to be pushed out for a corner by Goodlad. The resulting flag kick ended disappointingly with an over-hit cross into the box that evaded everyone.

Billy Paynter, who was linked with a move to Crewe Alexandra in the build-up to the game, tried his luck with a long-range effort on 25-minute mark but the ball ended up in amongst the Walsall faithful behind the goal as it flew over with Oakes seeming to have it covered all the way.

Shortly afterwards, the busy Matthews managed to hold off the attentions of Zigor Aranalde deep inside the penalty area and his shot from the angle was saved at point-blank range by Oakes. As the ball fell loose, Craig James was presented with a shooting chance just outside the area and Oakes recovered to push the ball wide.

As the ball came back across following the resulting corner, Bennett did well as he managed to head clear under pressure from right underneath his own crossbar.

At the other end, skipper Simon Osborn's powerful drive looked like being on target until it was deflected to safety, but as the first half wore on it was the home side who were increasing the pressure and looking the most likely to break the deadlock.

With ten minutes to go until the break, Ian Roper did well to guide a header back to Oakes as Matthews applied the pressure following a teasing through-ball that was curled over the top of The Saddlers' back-line.

A probing ball into the box by player-manager, Paul Merson picked out the head of Bennett, who had stayed up following a corner moments earlier, but his header was just off target.

Oakes show a safe pair of hands to gather a shot from George Abbey on 40 minutes as the ball found its way to him on the edge of the area following another dangerous long throw-in from the Vale left.

It was a confident start for The Saddlers' new custodian, whose quick distribution was a useful tool to have on what was a big pitch. The former Derby County man managed to save his manager's blushes with two minutes to go until the interval when he saved well with his feet to deny Matthews who had been put through after an embarressing mis-kick in the middle of the park by Merson.

As the ball fell loose, Walsall were able to get men back to clear and launch a raid on goal of our own which ultimately came to nothing.

The last action of the half saw space open up for Andrew Surman to get in a shot on goal, but his attempt flew over as the half-time whistle brought the half to a close with the scoreline still goalless.

It took just five minutes after the restart for the home side to get their noses in front when a needless free-kick was conceded out wide and as the ball was curled invitingly into the penalty area, Michael Cummins, back in the side after suspension, managed to find space to plant a header beyond Oakes.

The Saddlers hit back strongly in the immediate aftermath of the goal, with Daryl Taylor putting in a dangerous cross that wasn't capitalised upon. However, as the ball came back out to him in a good position, the youngster put the ball onto the top of the crossbar.

The home side managed to double their lead on 57 minutes when a slip by Ian Roper allowed Matthews through on goal and he made no mistake to calmly slot the ball past the advancing Oakes.

In a bid to lift our fortunes and create a bigger attacking threat, Surman was replaced on the hour-mark by Jorge Leitao, whilst four minutes later Daryl Taylor was replaced by Michael Standing after the youngster failed to stamp his authority on the game.

There was a good point-blank save by Oakes on 66 minutes as the home side once more found space to get in a header at the far post following a cross into the box.

As the clock continued to tick down, Standing linked up well with Merson just inside the area to set up Leitao but as he was about to shoot, two Vale defenders managed to get back and bring him to the ground, allowing Goodlad an easy save.

Leitao was felled once more in the next attack and this time the referee awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position just outside the area as Simon Collins' robust challenge was rightly punished. Darren Wrack's curling effort flashed agonisingly wide as The Saddlers saw another good chance to get back into the game go begging.

Within minutes Wrack had his head in his hands again as this time his far post header from a deep Mark Wright cross struck the crossbar with Goodlad struggling to get across his goal.

Some good battling by Matty Fryatt saw him make progress to the by-line but as he tried to pull the ball back into the danger zone, the home side had men back to clear in front of Leitao who was waiting in the middle.

In the closing stages of the game, Bennett was replaced by Neil Emblen as Walsall looked a well beaten side against a Valiants outfit who went into the game just one place and one point below us.