George Bennett analysis: Saddlers’ charge checked on an afternoon to forget

The Saddlers lost Tom Knowles and Jamille Matt to injury within the opening 45 minutes and struggled to show the recent clinical touch in front of goal which had previously propelled them to five wins on the spin.

Sadler confirmed Knowles had picked up an ankle injury, while Matt was suffering with a hamstring issue but the Walsall boss was understandably unable to provide an early assessment.

Josh Gordon had two golden chances when he was unable to sort his feet to convert Emmanuel Adegboyega’s clipped cross, before Vicente Reyes, who enjoyed a brilliant performance for the hosts, denied him one-on-one.

Joe Foulkes, who has struggled for minutes since his run in the team earlier in the season, was arguably Walsall’s stand-out player after replacing Knowles.

He combined effectively with Hutchinson down the right before clipping a delightful cross to the back post but half-time substitute Mo Faal found Reyes in his way again.

Walsall would then be made to rue their missed chances when former Saddlers man Emmanuel Osadebe came back to haunt his former club just past the hour.

Forest Green clearly attempted to unlock Walsall’s defence on the counter-attack and succeeded when a raking long ball from Kyle McAllister found Christian Doidge.

His strike crashed against the inside of the near post and Osadebe was on hand to tap in the rebound.

It was a bitter blow but Walsall were immediately handed a lifeline when Foulkes went down under a challenge from Jamie Robson.

Hutchinson was unable to continue his 100 per cent record from the spot and was thwarted by a strong right hand by Reyes. The rebound fell kindly for him but he inexplicably blazed over from point-blank range.

Things went from bad to worse when David Okagbue was shown a second yellow for a cynical challenge on Doidge just moments after receiving a soft booking for grappling with substitute Tyrese Omotoye.

There was always a fear with Donervon Daniels, Priestley Farquharson, Oisin McEntee and Harry Williams out injured that any issues with the current back-three could spell danger.

And that is exactly the situation Walsall find themselves in with Okagbue suspended for the midweek visit of Barrow.

Sadler could drop Brandon Comley into the centre of a back-three or revert to a back-four. The problem with that is that Taylor Allen has rarely experienced playing in a four, while a change in formation is far from ideal after achieving such success in recent weeks with the 3-5-2.

A possible recall for Rollin Menayese from his loan spell at Aldershot Town is another alternative option.

Omotoye provided Forest Green with more of a presence in the final third and troubled the Walsall defence with his runs in behind.

Jordan Moore-Taylor launched a long ball over the top of the Saddlers back-line for Omotoye to latch on to and Jackson Smith was penalised for tripping the striker despite appearing to get two hands to the ball first.

McAllister stepped up to the spot and calmly tucked the ball into the bottom corner to wrap up the victory for the hosts.

Sadler introduced Ross Tierney and Douglas James-Taylor for the closing stages but by then, it was too little to late.

Walsall’s six-match unbeaten run and five-match winning streak came to an end as they also fell out of the play-off spots.

Victories for Gillingham and AFC Wimbledon saw the Saddlers drop to ninth, while sixth-place Barrow’s win over League Two strugglers Colchester United extended their lead over Walsall to five points ahead of tomorrow’s crunch match.

The run was always going to come to an end at some stage but it was a disappointing and frustrating afternoon for the 1,075 who made the trip to Gloucestershire.

This must only be a bump rather than a slump if Walsall want to keep up with the play-off chasing pack and there can be no better way of doing that than beating rivals Barrow in their next outing.

Walsall have generally responded well to defeat in recent months. They went on a three-match winning streak after Christmas following a 2-1 loss at Accrington Stanley and embarked on a six-game unbeaten run and a five-match winning streak after a humbling 3-0 home defeat against Newport County in February.