THE SADDLERS have slipped to another disappointing home defeat, this time at the hands of fellow strugglers, Oldham Athletic.

With five players making their home debuts, four of which only arrived on Thursday afternoon, it was always going to take time for The Saddlers to settle and get into their stride.

There was a real chance for the visitors on 11 minutes when Chris Killen broke the offside trap and pulled the ball back into the path of Luke Beckett in front of goal, but he somehow put his effort wide. It was an uncharacteristic miss for a player who scored twice at Bescot Stadium on his last visit with Huddersfield Town in January.

The visitors were getting all the decisions early on and a free-kick in a dangerous position was well held by Andy Oakes as the veteran David Eyres fired in a powerful low shot.

Some good build-up play on the right by The Saddlers saw Paul Merson pick out Matty Fryatt who in turned linked up with Darren Wrack to create an opening for Simon Osborn on the edge of the area. He tried his luck with a shot that flew just wide of the target.

Shortly afterwards on the half-hour mark there was another opening for the skipper to try his luck after Anthony Gerrard had come out of defence with the ball to pick out fellow new-boy, Julian Joachim who teed Osborn up but this time Steve Mildenhall in The Latics' goal was able to make a comfortable save.

It was a stop-start affair with the game unable to get into any real momentum. A controversial free-kick given against Craig Pead saw Eyres hit a shot that took a nasty bounce in front of Oakes who managed to keep the ball out.

With 38 minutes on the clock, a superb instinctive save by Oakes denied the visitors who managed to find more space in between Walsall's new-look back-line, with four of the five players making their first appearances at Bescot Stadium.

As half-time approached, Joachim had his first run at the Oldham defence before Merson tired his luck from distance only for his effort to fly inches over.

The early action of the second period saw Darren Wrack put a free-kick from a good position over the crossbar, whilst at the other end Gerrard did well to clear ahead of Killen as the New Zealand International closed in on goal. The resulting corner found its way onto the head of Beckett who was off target from a good position.

A through-ball carved open The Latics' defence on 65 minutes and play in Joachim who hit an instinctive shot that was kept out by Mildenhall.

It was a frustrating afternoon for Joachim's strike partner, Matty Fryatt and he was replaced by Jorge Leitao shortly afterwards, whilst Kris Taylor also came off to be replaced by Andrew Surman.

Just past the 70-minute mark a disputed free-kick was awarded to the visitors on the right and as the ball was whipped into the danger zone by Eyres, Beckett reacted the quickest to put the ball past Oakes and open the scoring.

As The Saddlers searched for a way back into the game, Surman hit a shot on the turn from near the penalty spot that Mildenhall could only push out despite the effort lacking any real pace and as the ball ran loose, Leitao was denied by a block from the 'keeper.

With 88 minutes on the clock, Surman put in a cross which just evaded Leitao as The Saddlers once more lacked an end product when it mattered.

In injury time at the end, Surman made a positive run into the area that saw him stay on his feet despite a lunge by Mark Hughes and as the space opened up for a shot, Marc Tierney was on hand to head his attempt off the line and break Saddlers' hearts. Oldham counter-attacked through Jermaine Johnson who put a good chance wide, but in the end it mattered not as his side claimed a precious three points to leave Walsall feeling the heat just above the drop zone.

PHOTOS: David Linney Photography