Walsall struggled to a 1-0 win over hopeless Wimbledon in a dire match at Bescot today. On loan midfielder Keith Andrews made his debut after signing from Wolves yesterday and Paul Ritchie returned with Vinny Samways (flu) and Pedro Matias (sub) missing out. Paul Merson appeared on the bench after returning from America this week.

Neil Emblen, playing at the head of a three pronged attack, grabbed the winner after 26 minutes. He charged down a clearance from Rob Gier before confidently striding forward and slotting the ball past debutant Wimbledon keeper Scott Bevan.
The Saddlers should have scored more however, after dominating the first half. Leitao burst forward purposefully only to fire over, before heading a cross from Birch straight at keeper Bevan. Birch and Kris Taylor also tried their look from distance while the Dons – with defender Nico Herzig as a makeshift striker – struggled to make an impact.

Merson replaced the injured Leitao soon into the second half and then Walsall sat back for the remainder of the game, inviting the youthful Dons onto them. A better team would have taken advantage of such a woeful second half display. Emblen spent the second half upfront on his own, sometimes supported by Merse – sporting a very decent sun tan it must be said. Fryatt was sent on in place of Birch and Matias replaced Taylor, as the Saddlers switched to 4-4-2. Emblen starred up front whilst Roper defended well and Fryatt looked lively but few other players impressed.
Meanwhile, Colin Lee has confirmed that 32 year old Craig Burley will sign on Monday but the club has missed out on Jody Morris, who has instead opted for the bright lights of Rotherham. The club now has nine central midfielders (Burely, Merson, Samways, Osborn, Emblen, Taylor, Andrews, Lawrence and Corica) but only two wingers (Wrack and Matias) neither of whom tend to run at defenders as often as would be expected.