Walsall finally went out of the LDV Trophy at the Liberty Stadium last night, but in the worst way possible.

It’s bad enough going out of cup on penalties following a backs to the wall defensive shut out, but that wasn’t the case, as the Saddlers were the better side on the night and only a couple of bits of poor defending and a lack of conviction in front of goal stopped them from winning the tie.

The penalty shoot out, which Walsall lost 6 - 5, always had drama written all over it, as the teams went to 4 - 4, only for Oakes and Westwood (his second consecutive shoot out failure, after the play off final), both to miss, giving Swansea match points. Oakes, however, managed to save both of Swansea’s next two, making it four missed on the bounce.

It was, unfortunately, left to youth teamer Deakin to miss the crucial penalty.

Saturday’s tie at Stoke now becomes more important than ever, as we see the reaction to last night, which could either be positive, on the strength of the performance, or negative, if the players disappointment gets the better of them. Merson also has the unenviable task of telling some excellent performers that they won’t be playing