TEN-MAN Walsall battled out a hard-earned point in a goalless draw in the sunshine at AFC Bournemouth.

The home side started on top, but with eight minutes on the clock a teasing corner from The Saddlers was met at the far post by a towering header by Anthony Gerrard, who was a late replacement for the injured Steve Staunton. The ball was cleared as soon as it entered the danger zone.

Then three minutes later manager, Paul Merson tried his luck from distance but the ball was always rising and flew over the crossbar.

The home side were enjoying the majority of possession as the first half went on, but real goalscoring opportunities were rare at either end.

Matty Fryatt was booked for a foul on 24 minutes before seeing a shot hit the side-netting in the next foray forward shortly afterwards.

At the other end, James Hayter fired over after former Saddlers' loanee, Andrew Surman did well to win a corner as he crossed from the by-line after seeing off the attentions of Craig Pead.

Hayter was involved in the thick of the action again with ten minutes to go until the break as he caused concern for Gerrard and Andy Oakes, however the 'keeper managed to recover to deflect his eventual effort out for a corner.

There was a controversial moment soon afterwards when Julian Bennett was given a straight red card for what was deemed to be a reckless challenge on former Walsall striker, Dani Rodrigues, even though the young defender got to the ball.

It meant that The Saddlers had to reorganise and change from three at the back to a more conventional back four as Kris Taylor slotted into the left-back role, a position in which he played in our last visit to Dean Court.

Player-coach, Mark Kinsella entered the action at half-time as he replaced Michael Standing, but the first goalmouth action of the half saw Oakes block well after Brian Stock managed to break through.

With the travelling Saddlers' faithful in good voice, the ten men continued to battle hard and show plenty of resillience as the sun beat down, making conditions even more difficult. The home side were seeing plenty of the ball in attacking positions but were unable to make their superior possession count.

The hard-working Jorge Leitao was replaced by Mark Wright with around 20 minutes to go as Walsall continued to contain the home side, leaving Andy Oakes to field a couple of tame efforts, whilst the rest flew well wide of the mark.

With time running out, Wright won a free-kick out wide but the delivery was easy for the 'keeper to gather. At the other end, Marcus Browning tried his luck from distance but the ball flew over, then Cooper his a low shot that curled just wide.

Gerrard was forced to limp out of the action towards the end and he was replaced by Ian Roper who was given a rousing reception in this his Testimonial Year.

In the end Merson's men hung on to claim a richly-deserved point courtesy of a hard-working and committed display as we put the woes of Saturday firmly behind us.