It’s a pity you can’t do something about the poor standard of refereeing isn’t it? Let’s face it, Mr Probert has made a fool of himself in front of the Saddlers fans before, but this pathetic display from the officials could have had a terrible effect on the Saddlers season.

The Franchise did, I hate to say it, have slightly the better of the game on the day and, in the shape of Jon Paul McGovern, certainly had the most creative player on view, but, apart from one great save from a deflected shot in the first half and a reasonably straightforward catch from a Clive Platt header in the second, Clayton Ince had nothing much to do, as the back four played superbly and were well protected by Dobson and Keates.

In fact, the Franchise goal, despite the pressure they were exerting at the time, still came as a bit of a surprise, coming as it did when Anthony Gerrard misjudged the flight of a McGovern cross, only for McCleod to chest the ball down and score. Apart from that, we did defend superbly.

Then comes the other end.

Well, the tv pictures clearly showed that, when Martin Butler chested a Dean Keates cross down in the first half, that no fewer than two MK Dons players had hold of his arms (one each) and dragged him to the ground. Mr Probert, perfectly positioned, presumably couldn’t make his mind up which one had committed the foul, so decided not to give the nailed on penalty. Ian Taylor and Steve Claridge couldn’t believe that he hadn’t given it at half time.

Of course, when the ball was lobbed forward to Trevor Benjamin to neatly lob Harper for a goal which the tv replays clearly showed was on side, that might have made up for his error, but he didn’t.

Martin Butler also was desperately unlucky in the second half to smash a diving header against the bar from a Kevin Harper cross with the ‘keeper completely beaten, before Mr Probert ruled another goal out for offside which the replays again showed to be on side. Benjamin was in an offside position, but was nowhere near interfering with play as Butler headed home.

Darren Wrack finally scored a well deserved equaliser from a Dean Keates free kick, with only his second touch of the ball, having come on as a sub, so perhaps the Football League have just changed the rules to say we have to score three times before one counts.

We lost Scott Dann towards the end when he went over on his ankle, but DD says it doesn’t look too bad and Trevor Benjamin had a surprisingly effective debut.

Oh, and my Man of the Match was Chris Westwood, with Dann, Dobson and Keates not far behind!

All in all, I’d have taken a point before the game, but, as an exhibition of how to counter attack, this was near perfect and we did, in effect, score three perfectly good goals and should have had a penalty as well, so the three points should have been on their way back to Bescot tonight.