THE SADDLERS' recent revival continued with a richly-deserved victory at Tranmere Rovers.

On a bitterly cold evening in Birkenhead, where ear-muffs and gloves were very much the order of the day, there was a cagey opening to the proceedings.

With nine minutes on the clock, a foul on Kevin James out wide gave Walsall a free-kick but Grant Smith's delivery beat everyone on its way to going out for a goal-kick..

The game was in real need of a lift after the opening quarter and it almost came for the home side when leading scorer, Chris Greenacre just failed to latch on to a header into the danger zone. Shortly afterwards a long-range effort from youngster, David Raven was straight at Andy Oakes.

At the other end, Smith's teasing corner caused all sorts of problems for the Rovers' defence who managed to block the ball in front of goal on a number of occasions before eventually clearing to safety as The Saddlers applied the pressure.

There was an excellent save from a full-stretch Oakes on 24 minutes as he pushed a powerful header from home skipper, Mike Jackson onto the roof of the net.

With half-an-hour gone, Pablo Mills tried his luck with a dipping effort from distance that landed just wide, but nine minutes later Walsall took the lead when James did well to win the ball in a wide position before feeding Andrew Barrowman who in turn presented Smith with a shooting opportunity and he made no mistake as he hit a sweet strike that sailed past the giant frame of Dino Seremit.

Kevan Broadhurst's side went into the break one goal to the good and we almost doubled that advantage seven minutes into the second period when a neat ball inside from the hard-working Paul Devlin saw Barrowman's presence cause panic in the Rovers' defence as the goalkeeper and his defender failed to communicate properly.

Mark Wright, who replaced Craig Pead in the right-back role, picked up a knock early in the half and eventually had to be replaced by Chris Westwood on 55 minutes after receiving treatment.

There were appeals from the home side for a penalty as Calvin Zola broke through into the area, but he went down all too easily under the challenge of Anthony Gerrard leaving the referee unimpressed and waving play on.

A long-range low drive from Mills just before the hour-mark was on target but easy for Seremit to gather before the home side equalised shortly afterwards when Oakes could only push a low shot into the path of Greenacre and he was left with the simple task of tucking the ball home from close range to make it 1-1.

Brian Little's side started to up the pressure in the wake of the goal and The Saddlers made a change as Michael Leary replaced Barrowman.

There was some respite for Walsall as James broke away with pace before finding Devlin out wide and his cross was met by the head of Smith but his effort lacked the necessary power to beat the 'keeper.

With 20 minutes to go, a curling effort by Delroy Facey flew inches wide after Zola had powered his way through and given plenty of cause for concern.

The Saddlers regained the lead on 72 minutes when Devlin started a move that saw some good work from the effective Mills who delivered an inviting ball onto the head of Smith. This time he gave the 'keeper no chance with a powerful header that sent the loyal travelling contingent delirious.

The goal came as the home side were on top and looking to up the tempo, but Walsall defended resolutely, with Gerrard putting in a timely blocking tackle on 77 minutes to halt another attack in its tracks.

The returning Daniel Fox was forced to limp off with what appeared to be cramp on 82 minutes as Ishmel Demontagnac took his place before another good save from Oakes preserved our lead as this time he got down low to his right to push clear a Greenacre effort that came at him through a crowd of players.

Moments later Oakes had to be alert again, this time to block from Zola who had managed to find some space.

There was a hearts-in-the-mouth moment right at the death as Rovers won a free-kick right on the edge of the penalty area, however the defensive wall did its job to block before the ball was cleared and the full-time whistle sounded to signal a most welcome three points for The Saddlers - our first League win of 2006 - following an heroic display from everyone involved.