Shot-shy Walsall slipped to defeat at Oldham after Pawel Abbott’s late header settled a dour affair.

The hosts, who dominated possession, finally won it when Abbott headed in unmarked from Chris Taylor’s 78^th minute centre.

Walsall, who gave a second-half debut to new signing Julian Gray, failed to create a meaningful chance and didn’t have a shot on target all game.

Saddlers boss Chris Hutchings named an unchanged line up following the Saddlers’ 1-0 win at Bristol Rovers in midweek. New-boy Gray took his place on the bench after completing his free transfer yesterday.

After a slow start Dwayne Mattis guided a header wide, while Jason Price caused some early problems in the Saddlers’ box.

The teams cancelled each other out in a tepid opening, but the Latics began to make home advantage count and dominated possession.

They almost took the lead when a loose ball fell to Abbott, but goalkeeper Clayton Ince’s sprawling save kept the scores level on 34 minutes.

Price then stung Ince’s palms with a seven yard volley – but should have done better – as the Saddlers struggled to make any forward inroads.

They continually wasted possession, while strikers Troy Deeney and Alex Nicholls fed on scraps as Oldham won the midfield battle.

But, when the home side went forward, they were met by a solid wall of red shirts with Clayton McDonald and Jamie Vincent impressing.

The Latics started the second-half strongly and Price shot straight at Ince, while the Saddlers responded by bringing on Gray for Netan Sansara as Matt Richards moved to left-back.

But, despite Oldham’s pressure, the hosts couldn’t break the visitors down and demonstrated why they had only scored 11 goals at Boundary Park this season.

Abbott headed over from four yards after good work from Taylor, with the game ticking into the last 15 minutes.

But the former Huddersfield striker finally broke the deadlock on 78 minutes, when Taylor dinked the ball in and the Poland under-21 international was left unmarked to nod past Ince.

The Saddlers needed to change their approach after a poor attacking display, but substitute Darren Byfield blazed over from the angle with six minutes left.

Walsall hadn’t had an effort on target and Deeney was desperately unlucky after charging down Dean Brill’s clearance but the ball bobbled away and the goalkeeper was lucky not to see red after a two footed challenge on Byfield.

But the Saddlers couldn’t conjure any late drama, as the game drifted away from them.