Leroy Lita robbed Walsall of a deserved point with a late drive at Bescot today, condemning the Saddlers to a 1-2 home defeat.
Walsall began well and thought they had taken the lead inside ten minutes, when Gary Birch headed home Zigor Aranalde’s cross only for the linesman to flag for offside. City also had the ball in the net, when Lita slid home Scott Murray’s cross from close range but he too was adjudged to be offside.
Matty Fryatt at last opened the scoring after 49 minutes, converting from the spot after he had been brought down by Tony Butler. However, when Simon Osborn sliced a clearance, Lita raced clear of the Walsall defence; his shot was smothered by Joe Murphy, who then blocked Murray’s follow up only for Lita to fire home from close range.
A draw would have been a fair result but City snatched three points thanks to the usually reliable Murphy’s injury time howler. He allowed Lita’s long range drive to squirm into the net, ending Walsall’s three match unbeaten run.
“I can’t believe that we’ve lost the match,” said Paul Merson. “The lads are gutted because we’ve passed the ball around well and had enough opportunities to have won it. I’m just lost for words that they’ve been able to nick it in the last minute; we’ve probably played as well today as we did against Luton.”