Analysis of Walsall 2 Millwall 2

We have been here before haven't we?

Such has been the Saddlers' susceptibility to late goals this season, there was a sorry sense of inevitability about Alan Dunne's 93rd-minute equaliser.

Accrington, Leeds, Swindon, Carlisle, Oldham and now Millwall, the theme is a common one – late goals.

Even as the game entered its dying seconds you sensed the Banks's Stadium was braced for an all-too familiar finale.

Once again this 90 minutes was a microcosm of the Saddlers' season – the good, the bad and the ugly.

It began with the good – two wonderfully-executed goals from Alex Nicholls and Richard Taundry to out Chris Hutchings' side firmly in the driving seat.

Just two minutes after Taundry's masterpiece came the bad – a horrific howler from goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin and skipper Jamie Vincent which left Steve Morison with an open goal.

Finally, the ugly – a needless but predictable dismissal for Matt Richards which left the rest of his team on the back foot for the final 25 minutes – their resistance eventually crushed in the dying seconds by Alan Dunne's wonder strike.

No question, the equaliser was a hammer blow for the Saddlers. But it is unlikely to have cost them much come May as mid-table beckons.

Fittingly, for a side of such inconsistency, even with two months of the campaign to go it is clear they will neither trouble the promotion hopefuls nor be troubled by a relegation dogfight.

Publically, Hutchings and his players will continue to beat the drum that they have not given up hope of the play-offs. So they should.

Yet with the gap between them and the sixth-placed Lions standing at 15 points with just 36 to play for and, looking the other way, them sitting 12 points clear off the drop zone, it's pretty safe to say it will be League One football again next season.

Still, there were some positives – Steve Jones looked lively on his first start for three months, Troy Deeney and Nicholls both put in impressive shifts going forward and Taundry was outstanding in the centre of the park.

An improvement on last week's 5-1 mauling at Southampton, certainly. Let's not forget too that this came against a Lions side who arrived having won seven of their previous eight games.

As expected, Hutchings opted against making wholesale changes from the side which slumped at St Mary's last weekend.

There was a first start in three months for wing wizard Steve Jones, allowing Nicholls to play up top in his favoured striking position at the expense of Darren Byfield.

The only other change was at right-back, with Rhys Weston returning for Darryl Westlake.

A minute's silence was held before kick-off for Saddlers legend Tony Richards, who passed away on Thursday.

It was the visitors who began the more purposefully with Kenny Jackett's side looking particularly dangerous down the right flank.

But it was the Saddlers who seized the initiative after 12 minutes with their first real sniff of goal when Troy Deeney won possession in midfield, sent Nicholls through with a ball over the top and the Saddlers striker made no mistake with a clinical finish low into the bottom corner.

It was a fine goal, yet the one which followed 15 minutes later was even better.

The Lions could only clear Jones' right-wing cross to Taundry, who was lurking on the edge of the area, and the Saddlers midfielder let fly with an unstoppable rocket into the top corner.

So far, so good – 2-0 up at home the game should have been done and dusted.

But this is the Saddlers and, not for the first time this season, the self-destruct button was not far away.

This time it was skipper Vincent and Gilmartin who were culpable as a hopeful Lions ball over the top was left by the defender only for the keeper to hesitate, his eventual clearance was straight into the onrushing Morison and the Millwall striker was left with the simplest of finishes into the empty net.

Suddenly, the game was up for grabs again and the Lions could easily have entered the interval on level terms.

They were a whisker away from an equaliser after 37 minutes when predatory poacher Neil Harris rose highest to meet Danny Schofield's teasing free-kick – awarded for Richards' first bookable offence for high feet – from the right only to see it flash agonisingly past the post.

They came even closer five minutes before the whistle when the ball broke to Tony Craig on the left side of the box and his viciously-struck shot crashed off the upright.

Millwall suffered a setback soon after half-time when Harris hobbled off to be replaced by Shaun Batt.

The soaring striker almost made an immediate impact when Chris Hackett picked him out at the back post only for his effort to flash inches past the post.

It was one-way traffic and already difficult task got harder on when Richards received his marching orders after 64 minutes for another clumsy tackle on Chris Hackett.

Richards could have no arguments with the decision having escaped without a caution for a bodycheck just minutes before.

It was all hands to the pump from there on in and a combination of dogged defending and profligacy from Kenny Jackett's side looked to have seen them over the line.

Clayton McDonald came to the rescue with a last-ditch clearance off the line to deny Morison on 68, while seven minutes later the Lions forward saw his diving header stopped at point-blank range by Gilmartin – a save which at least went some way to atoning for his first-half howler.

Morison, who scored both of Millwall's goals in this season's reverse fixture, spurned two further headed opportunities and, as the game reached its third minute of added time, that appeared to be that.

Sadly, Dunne had other ideas though when he let fly from the edge of the area with just seconds remaining on the clock.

By Brendan McLoughlin