Scorer needed as Walsall FC draw again - match analysis and pictures
They are so hard to find and invariably the most costly. But somewhere out there is the goalscorer who can complete Walsall and turn Dean Smith's League One team into genuine top-six material.
The Saddlers' latest frustration, a 1-1 draw with automatic promotion challengers Leyton Orient, captured in a single fixture all the excellence and all the frustrations of another notable campaign from Smith's outfit.
In the full flow of their opening 25 minutes at The Banks's Stadium we saw all the bright, sharp-witted attacking football of which Walsall are capable.
And when Orient later came at them with the desperation of men sensing Wolves and Brentford were eluding their grasp, Smith's side revealed the well-drilled, defensive organisation that is a match for any at this level.
Dotted throughout the team display were the significant individual contributions of players with much to offer up ahead. There really wasn't anything not to like about Walsall on Saturday. But at the end of a contest which was gripping if not great, Smith was still left holding a scoreline which came up short. Scoring the goals promised by the weight of their attacking potential remains maddeningly out of reach.
Smith will have that key figure at the top of his target list for the summer, albeit a summer he will conduct with the usual burdens of his club's modest budget.
He has already moulded the best Walsall team since Ray Graydon's days and it must be driving him to distraction to see it so close and yet so far.
However, this result left them continuing to hang by a thread to their play-off ambitions. Games come so thick and fast in this period that in a week's time, the Saddlers could be right back in it or sentenced to the middle reaches.
But even as they prepare for the trip to Bradford tomorrow night, they will know that while they have produced the football to warrant a shot at promotion, it will remain forever out of reach while they continue to allow opponents to slip their grasp as they did Orient.
Smith was right when he talked about his team taking a more decisive grip on this game in the opening half-hour. The solitary goal from Paul Downing was scant reward for some of the opportunities and certainly the promise of Walsall's football. There was a remarkable goal-line escape for the visitors after a Milan Lalkovic shot had been tipped on to the post while Febian Brandy was also close to scoring the goal his excellent form deserves.
The ball popped and fizzed around Orient's defence with all the craft associated with Smith's team these days as Romaine Sawyers and Craig Westcarr wrong-footed opponents.
But the punch, the focal point, is still out of reach. The Saddlers are a great little act, but without a big finish to bring the house down and that continues to send home the audience feeling slightly unfulfilled.
Orient came at Walsall with increasing ferocity after the break. But the Saddlers were as impressive in defence as they had been going forward to repel a surge restricted to a double save from Richard O'Donnell in the 66th minute to defy Lloyd James and David Mooney. However, just when Andy Butler and his back line seemed to have steered the team through, Nathan Clarke strode forward from central defence to try his luck from 25 yards or more.
It wasn't a clean hit and the ball was veering wide. But for the second week running, the effort found an unwitting accomplice in Downing as the shot struck his thigh and deflected into the other side of the goal.
No, not a lot wrong with the Saddlers. And if Smith can unearth that goalscorer, there will be even less in the future.
