The Saddlers will have left this game knowing they deserved more than a 3-2 defeat. A spirited performance blotted by a couple of defensive mistakes has cost the Saddlers their 6th game without defeat.

The game saw Paul Mcshane make his debut, while Paul Merson put in a relatively influential midfield performance.

Merse will have been pleased with our start, as we managed to keep it all square up and till the half our mark when Jones connected well with the ball, and volleyed the Owls in to the lead. Our equaliser came via Marvin Robinson. The bustling front man got his 4th goal in his third Walsall appearance, connecting well with an Aranalde cross.

The owls edged in front 20 minutes in to the second half. Some comedy defending from Wright and Mcshane led to the ball finding it’s way in to the back of the Walsall net. The own goal was given to a certain Mr Mark Wright.

Wendy went on to make it 3-1, as Steven MacLean won, then converted a penalty. Neil Emblen was adjudged to have given away the spot kick. We did claw it back to 3-2, as we benefited from another Paul Merson through ball that allowed Paul Mcshane to grab a debut goal. We pushed on in the last 10 minutes, but were unable to bring a point back to the Bescot Stadium.

Interesting things to note were that Merse played a full 90 minutes, while Herivelto stayed on the bench. Mark Kinsella also played 75 minutes. Can we read anything in to this for the Tranmere game. Will the ageing - but influential legs of Merson and Kinsella last the X-mas period.

Paul Merson has been speaking about the joys of football management with Peter Higgs of the Mail on Sunday. The papers Sporting supplement has dedicated a whole page to our player manager.

His positive outlook will bring cheer to the hearts of Walsall fans. He speaks frankly about the pressures of management – something he clearly enjoys.

“I’m not gambling at all. I try not to do anything. I can’t say I don’t’ have days because I do, but life is taken up with so many things – training, sorting out problems and trying to bring players in – that it’s enjoyable”

The gist of the piece is that Merson wants to repay the faith shown in him over the last 12 months. It’s nice to know that is this is the one and only debt he cares about this season.