Walsall talking points: Long balls, another blank and one shot on target

In the end, Myles Roberts produced a string of saves to deny Ronan Darcy, Jay Williams and Theo Vassell and preserve his second successive clean sheet. 

And the point saw Walsall drop to sixth - four points above Chesterfield in eighth - who they face at the SMH Group Stadium on Saturday.

'Sighs from the stands'

180 minutes of football have been played at Bescot in the past four days and supporters are still left scratching their heads over what the plan was supposed to be. 

There was virtually no creativity, guile or imagination on show, and the night consisted of sighs from the stands as Walsall once again resorted to kicking the ball high into the Black Country sky. 

In total, Walsall attempted 60 long balls and only 15 found the feet of a teammate - according to FotMob. It was as if the ball was made of fire and Walsall wanted to dispose of it as quickly as possible before they got burnt. 

That was illustrated by a lowly 60 per cent pass completion rate (it was just 46 per cent against Accrington on Saturday) and Mat Sadler even alluded to it at full-time that his team were far too loose in possession. 

Long balls and creative issues

The one positive from two abject displays is that Walsall have registered back-to-back clean sheets - thanks in large part to a series of saves by Roberts on this occasion. 

Yet the distribution from the back is a major part of the problem. Evan Weir completed just four of his 11 long passes, Aden Flint only two of his seven and Brandon Comley found his intended target once from seven. 

Moreover, Mason Hancock failed to complete any of his five and Roberts launched the ball long no fewer than 20 times. 

Another issue is that the ball just never seemed to stick for Jamille Matt, who lost nine of his 15 duels. 

As a result, Walsall have registered just three shots across the past two matches and only tested Crawley goalkeeper Jacob Chapman once on Tuesday evening. 

They emerged from the first half with an xG of 0.04 and squandered their best chance when Matt headed an inviting cross across goal rather than towards it. 

Changes fail to make the difference

Sadler made three changes from the bore draw four days earlier but it was pretty much a carbon copy in terms of performance. 

Rico Richards enjoyed a couple of nice touches but his lack of match sharpness was evident and Mason Hancock suffered a similar fate on his first league appearance since August 19. 

Alex Pattison at least endeavoured to occupy spaces between the lines but he was ultimately fighting a lost cause. 

The ball bypassed the midfield so many times that it simply descended into a scrap with no room for ingenuity. 

Tactical inflexibility proving costly

Another question that has been levelled at Sadler is his in-game management. 

On Saturday, the Walsall boss withdrew top scorer Daniel Kanu just minutes after he rattled the crossbar. 

And once again, he showed a reluctance to dispense from his 3-5-2 system. Such stubbornness and conservatism has, and will continue to cost his side points, unless he starts to show more tactical flexibility in games. 

Home struggles deepen

The biggest concern is that Accrington and Crawley are two games that Walsall should be emerging with maximum points on paper. 

Crawley travelled to Bescot with just one win in 12 games, while Accrington started last weekend in 16th - albeit off the back of three wins in the four prior.

This was what stung Walsall last season as demonstrated by the draws against Carlisle United, Gillingham, Harrogate Town and Newport County, not to mention the defeats to Barrow and Accrington Stanley during the run-in.

The recent poor home form is undermining their ability to push for promotion after collecting just two wins from their last eight games at Bescot.