Walsall 2 Wycombe 0 - match analysis

Whether it was a gift from heaven or simply a bolt from the blue, Dean Smith won't care.

Walsall's manager will simply hope that Kevan Hurst's stunning strike on Saturday is the moment that changes the course of the Saddlers' season.

On a day when failing to win was simply not an option, Smith and his men would have taken any help they could get.

So when his former team-mate and ex-Saddlers captain Peter Hart took the supporters' applause at half-time, Smith must have been praying the ordained minister could conjure up a spot of divine intervention.

Eighteen minutes into the second half, Hurst produced a moment of magic that relieved the tension at an edgy Banks's Stadium and infused his team with a fresh wave of confidence.

Smith can only hope the new-found strut the Saddlers developed after Hurst's memorable thunderbolt is retained for the crucial games that lie ahead.

The result itself proved little about Walsall's credentials when it comes to dragging themselves clear of the League One relegation dogfight.

They won a game they had to win and collected three very useful points. But fans will need more than victory over a desperately poor Wycombe side, who ended the day propping up the table, to convince them that Smith and Co have turned a corner.

What supporters and management alike can cling to, however, is the hope the top-drawer second goal that sealed the points for the Saddlers was a glimpse of a brighter, more confident future and not simply a flash in the pan.

There was no disguising the fact that Hurst's right-foot rocket on 63 minutes altered the mood within the team and in the stands on a day that had previously been mired in nervousness and uncertainty.

Before the winger – making his first start since October – whistled his 25-yard strike past a helpless Nikki Bull in the Wanderers goal, Smith's men had struggled for the conviction and crispness to cash in on their clear superiority.

After Hurst's goal, they found reserves of poise and precision that had been missing for the opening hour, despite their general dominance of a poor contest.

Alex Nicholls' desperately poor penalty four minutes into the second half offered clear evidence of the edginess that dominated proceedings before Hurst's goal.

And the Saddlers' classy second goal five minutes from full-time – completed with brilliant touches from veteran Jon Macken and rookie George Bowerman – said everything about the additional belief they found after it.

The opening 45 minutes had been a half ruled by nerves with Smith's men clearly on top yet unable to cause their visitors anything like enough problems.

Only teenage wideman Jamie Paterson, whose eye-catching display was the biggest single reason for optimism, asked enough questions of a struggling Wycombe defence.

The 20-year-old's willingness to accept responsibility saw him dribble through two challenges and fire just wide on 22 minutes.

And a similarly positive run five minutes later allowed him to bring a smart, scrambling save from Bull after Nicholls had cut into the box and been dispossessed.

Aside from Paterson's keenness and a couple of efforts from a hit-and-miss Will Grigg, there was little to encourage home fans before the break.

But there was even less to cheer the travelling support, who saw their side threaten just twice through Gareth Ainsworth's 10th-minute long-range shot that flew wide and Matty Whichelow's 45th-minute effort that also missed the target.

Within four minutes of the restart, however, the home faithful had reason to believe they were on the brink of a breakthrough when lively loanee Florent Cuvelier was nudged to the ground by Dave Winfield.

There were eyebrows raised, however, when Nicholls stepped up to take the resulting penalty just four days after his late spot-kick at Oldham was saved.

And there was little surprise when the striker's weak effort was kept out comfortably by Bull, tumbling low to his right.

Just after the hour-mark, though, the atmosphere changed when Wanderers handed Hurst the freedom of midfield to stride forward from his own half and strike a powerful shot that moved late and left Bull well-beaten.

Lively substitute Bowerman passed up a decent headed chance to double the lead before a shot by Paterson missed the target by a fraction.

Wycombe's only sniff of an equaliser came when Stuart Beavon fired wide at the end of a rare counter-attack.

And they were finally put out of their misery with five minutes to go when the hosts moved the ball with purpose down the right, Paterson fed Macken and his brilliantly disguised pass allowed fellow substitute Bowerman to finish.

It was a goal of rare quality, at odds with so much of what has come before in a spluttering campaign. Smith can only hope it was a sign of things to come.

By Steve Madeley