THE SADDLERS swept aside Huddersfield Town by four goals to nil in what was a performance full of confidence.
An ambitious effort from Matthew Young within the first minute dipped just over for the visitors.
At the other end, a mistake in defence saw Nathan Clarke leave the ball for his 'keeper as Tommy Mooney nipped in to set up a one-on-one situation but his effort was well blocked by Matthew Glennon in The Terriers' goal.
Luke Beckett did well to free himself from the attentions of Mooney as a corner was only half cleared but his eventual shot was lashed into the side-netting.
A good ball out of defence by Ishmel Demontagnac on 12 minutes saw Mooney set Edrissa Sonko racing away with a fine touch on the half-way line. As Sonko closed in on goal, his low effort was dragged wide of the target.
On 18 minutes, Michael Dobson's inviting free-kick just evaded the head of Scott Dann and Mooney in the middle. Then a neat move down the right ended with Sonko's drive flying inches wide.
A foul on Dwayne Mattis on the half-hour gave Daniel Fox a free-kick which he curled perfectly onto the head of Anthony Gerrard whose deft touch took the ball beyond Glennon to make it 1-0.
Shortly afterwards Ince saved well from Clarke's towering header from a corner, whilst Gerrard's header at the other end landed on the roof of the net.
With three minutes to go until the break, Mooney linked up well with Sonko who made space to fire home beyond Glennon and double our advantage.
Mattis, who was making his home debut for The Saddlers against his home-town club, was booked for a foul.
Walsall were playing with plenty of confidence in the opening period, and the half ended with a flash-point when Frank Sinclair reacted angrily to Demontagnac's challenge. He was lucky to escape with only a yellow card for raising his hands.
The second half started in a positive fashion as a corner was touched on by Gerrard into the path of Bradley right in front of goal and he made no mistake to make it 3-0 and give the visitors a real mountain to climb.
The day got worse for the visitors when skipper Sinclair received a second yellow card for a foul on Demontagnac as he looked to break away.
Just past the hour, Mooney teed up Demontagnac to cross high into the area where Bradley's header flew over.
Then a ball in from the right found its way to Mooney at the far post via Bradley and the skipper made no mistake as he netted our fourth.
Paul Hall replaced Demontagnac shortly after the goal then Mooney left the field to a standing ovation shortly afterwards as Troy Deeney entered the fray.
The final change came on 80 minutes when David McDermott came on for Sonko as The Saddlers were well in control of the proceedings and passing the ball around sharply.
There was a chance for Deeney right at the death when he capitalised upon some hesitation in defence but his eventual shot was deflected onto the post and out for a corner as the referee blew the full-time whistle.
PHOTOS: David Linney Photography / John Crowe
