Walsall 0 Wigan 3 - Report and pictures

Dean Keates’s return to the Banks’s Stadium might have been the pre-game story, yet it was Wigan who walked away with three points to leave Walsall’s new boss in no doubt about the size of the task ahead of him.

Three goals in nine first half minutes were enough to earn the promotion-chasing Latics victory and condemn the Saddlers to a third defeat on the spin and fifth in sixth games.

Michael Jacobs, Jay Fulton and Chey Dunkley - following an error by goalkeeper Liam Roberts - were the men on target as the defensive frailties which have blighted Walsall all season were again exposed.

Those are the issues Keates, who chose to watch the first game of his reign from the stands, must now seek to solve in order to halt a slide which has left the Saddlers sitting a little too close to the relegation zone for comfort.

The new boss at least has time to work on the training ground before they take on Portsmouth on Saturday week, though by then the four point gap which currently separates his team from the bottom four may well have been reduced.

Walsall’s team featured two changes from the one beaten 2-0 at Shrewsbury in Jon Whitney’s final game in charge.

One was in defence, where Albion loanee Jack Fitzwater replaced Kory Roberts alongside Jon Guthrie in the heart of the back four.

The other saw Maz Kouhyar replace Belgium under-21 Julian Ngoy, who is away on international duty.

To describe Keates’s entrance as low key would be an understatement. Technically, he didn’t make one, choosing instead to take a watching brief for his first game in charge.

Indeed, his arrival in the directors box just seconds before kick off was missed by all but a couple of the photographers who had crowded around the dugout waiting for him to appear.

Having taken his seat, Keates almost saw his new team fall behind inside the opening 90 seconds, former Kidderminster man Dunkley rising highest to head Ryan Colclough’s corner just wide of goal.

Defending set pieces has been a problem for the Saddlers and they were rocking again when Amadou Bakayoko failed to clear and Colclough returned the ball into the box for Nick Powell to head just over.

It was hardly one way traffic, however, with the hosts able to exert pressure of their own as the half wore on.

Nicky Devlin drove a shot wide from 25 yards out, while timely interventions from Dunkley were twice required to thwart the hosts.

First he threw himself of an Oztumer shot after Walsall’s playmaker had won possession in midfield and raced with purpose to the edge of the box.

Minutes later, Dunkley was on hand to beat Bakayoko to Devlin’s inviting cross, as the Saddlers began to move the ball with increasing confidence.

Yet just when the Saddlers appeared to building a head of steam, it was the Latics who struck three times in quick succession to take a vice-like grip on the game.

The first two goals were down to moments of individual quality from the visitors, though on both occasions questions could still be asked of the home defence.

Powell’s exquisite cross with the outside of his boot from the left-hand side of the box was enough to take out two defenders and allow Jacobs, arriving at the far post to fire home for the opener on 31 minutes.

Four minutes later, Fulton was left unmarked on the edge of the box at a free-kick and when the ball was cleared into his path, he thumped a first-time finish into the bottom corner.

The third goal, on 40 minutes, was unquestionably one to be filed under goalkeeping calamity, as Roberts came to collect a corner and got nowhere near. After a brief scramble, Dunkley blasted home the loose ball to leave the Saddlers with a mountain to climb.

Kieron Morris should have at least given them a foothold in the opening minute of the second half. But having raced clear on the left, he could only fire straight at Wigan keeper Christian Walton, who gathered at the second attempt.

Jacobs then squandered a chance to grab his second when he shot wide after beating the offside trap.

Walsall kept working for a route back and almost found one when good skill from Oztumer put Bakayoko through but Walton came racing out to save at the striker’s feet.

By now there was a sense of Wigan simply doing enough to see the game out. When they did move through the gears, Colclough brought a sharp save from Roberts with a stinging shot. That was the final time either keeper was forced into action as the game fizzled out into another Saddlers defeat.

Teams

Walsall (4-4-1-1): Roberts L, Devlin, Guthrie, Fitzwater, Leahy, Morris, Chambers (c), Dobson (Cuvelier 70), Kouhyar, Oztumer, Bakayoko Subs not used: Shaibu, Flanagan, Roberts K, Hayles-Docherty, Candlin, Gillespie (gk).

Wigan (4-4-1-1): Walton, Byrne, Burn, Dunkley, Elder, Jacobs (Cole 89), Power, Fulton (Roberts 82), Colclough, Power, Vaughan (Grigg 70) Subs not used: Perkins, Massey, Bruce, Jones (gk).