Bristol Rovers 2-0 Walsall: Saddlers suffer another setback in promotion bid

Bristol Rovers scored twice in three second half minutes, as Yusuf Akhamrich opened the scoring in the 61st-minute and Kofi Balmer powered his volley past Myles Roberts. 

That defeat extended the Saddlers winless run to four games in League Two following three successive draws in the games prior.

They sit seventh in the table and four points adrift of the automatic promotion places.

Mat Sadler made three changes from their latest stalemate at Chesterfield on Saturday, as Albert Adomah shook off a knee issue to start, after scoring the Saddlers' all-important equaliser.

Priestley Farquharson was restored to the defence at the expense of Evan Weir and Mason Hancock was given the nod over Vincent Harper at left wing-back.

Neither goalkeeper was stretched during the opening half-hour which was a rather cagey affair. 

Shaq Forde skipped into space and drove an effort straight at Roberts, before Fabrizio Cavegn forced another textbook save from the Walsall goalkeeper. 

Walsall flipped between a 3-5-2 and a 3-4-3 formation, but were unable to get the final ball right despite creating overloads down the flanks.

Alex Pattison registered the first attempt on target for the visitors from an Adomah corner, but was unable to generate power on what proved to be a tame header.

Roberts made much harder work of his next save after Forde once again picked the ball up in a dangerous position. His low shot bobbled precariously in front of him, but the Watford loanee managed to adjust and parry away.

Jack Sparkes drew a smart stop from Roberts early in the second half when he met Ryan De Havilland's floated cross with a towering header above Connor Barrett.

Adomah played a clever reverse pass into Pattison although Kanu was unable to take a low cutback under his spell.

Rovers delivered the breakthrough just past the hour-mark when Kanu paid the price for giving the ball away midway inside his own half.

Forde threaded the ball into the path of Akhamrich and the Tottenham Hotspur loanee slotted his finish into the bottom corner. 

Things went from bad to worse for Walsall when Balmer doubled Rovers' tally with their second goal in quick succession. 

Walsall could only clear a set piece to the edge of the box where Balmer rifled a thunderous volley into the roof of the net. 

Sadler responded with a triple substitution as Charlie Lakin, Rico Richards and Aaron Pressley were thrown on with 25 minutes to go.

Kanu raced away on a darting run down the left, but the angle was tight, and Young comfortably turned his low effort behind.

Hancock came agonisingly close to halving the deficit when he chopped inside and curled a shot inches wide of Young's left-hand post.

Next, Walsall welcome Barnet to Bescot on Saturday, before an 11-day break prior to their trip to Grimsby Town on February 18.

Teams 

Walsall (3-1-4-2): Roberts; Farquharson, Flint, Burke; Chang (Lakin 66); Barrett, Pattison, Clarke (Richards 66), Hancock; Adomah (Pressley 66), Kanu.

Not used: Hornby, Loupalo-Bi, Comley, Weir.

Bristol Rovers (4-2-3-1): Young; Balmer, Harbottle, Kilgour, Sparkes; De Havilland, Mola; Akhamrich (Senior 84), Forde, Harrison (Moore 90 +4); Cavegn (Rijks 87).

Not used: Southwood, McEachran, Thomas, Thompson-Sommers.

Other details 

Referee: Alex Chilowicz

Attendance: 6,291 (331)