No laughing matter for Dean Smith as Walsall lose grip on play-offs

The main emotion for Smith after the final whistle was anger, directed at referee Carl Berry for the penalty award which allowed Jennison Myrie Williams to score the only goal of the game.

There was also frustration at a display which – for a team supposedly still with play-off aspirations – failed to reach the heights required.

Vale last celebrated a double over the Saddlers in 1900 – the same year much-vaunted psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud published his work The Interpretation of Dreams. Too many games this season have been a recurring nightmare for Smith.

The Saddlers weren't bad, but neither were they great. Their chances of making the play-offs, admittedly already slim, are surely now gone. Mathematically, it is still possible after Peterborough's defeat at Wolves kept the gap at five points. But even so, Walsall will probably need to win at least four of their final five games and that looks a tall order.

The problem, as it has been all season, is firepower. Saturday's defeat summed up why Smith's men are going to fall short. They are strong at the back and midfield but simply don't have enough in the final third, especially now shorn of suspended top scorer Craig Westcarr.

It wasn't until after the 68th-minute arrival of Milan Lalkovic that home keeper Sam Johnson was unduly tested. Until then he'd only had to deal with long-distance efforts from Romaine Sawyers and Michael Ngoo.

The latter has come in for plenty of criticism since his January arrival on loan from Liverpool. Given the nod to start ahead of Lalkovic and Troy Hewitt, this was not a performance which did anything to silence his critics.

It's not through lack of effort – the one thing the 21-year-old did was try – but he just doesn't seem to fit into this Saddlers team. His most memorable moments included a pass into space, 30 yards ahead of any team-mate, a header wide and a tangle with a pitchside photographer which provoked laughter.

When Ngoo arrived at the Banks's, it was hoped he would be the final piece in the jigsaw. Instead he looks like an out-of-form young player. It feels like a case of wrong place, wrong time and it is hard not to feel a little sorry for him.

He was outshone on Saturday, not just by an energetic Lalkovic but by academy youngster Amadou Bakayoko, who was handed his first senior career appearance when he arrived off the bench. The 18-year-old immediately looked at home. Had he shown slightly more composure after pouncing on an errant back-pass, it might have even been a dream debut.

Bakayoko's cameo was by far the biggest positive for supporters who will recall the best two forwards of the Smith era – Will Grigg and Jamie Paterson – both came from within the club. Much discussion will take place this summer over possible targets, but Smith's plans are long-term and he knows there is a wealth of potential in the Saddlers' youth system.

Half-an-hour is nowhere near enough to judge a player, but the early glimpses of Bakayoko are promising.

It was Vale's top scorer, Tom Pope, who was involved in the game's key moment when he tumbled while challenging Paul Downing for a Doug Loft through ball. Berry immediately pointed to the spot and gave Smith, who feels his side have not had the rub of the green from officials, another reason to feel aggrieved.

After then it was mostly all Walsall but only after the entrance of Lalkovic and Bakayoko did they attack with any purpose. The Slovakian twice drew saves from Johnson with fierce strikes from outside the box, while Bakayoko struck his shot straight at the keeper after jumping on a back-pass and was denied a one-on-one by a fine Carl Dickinson challenge.

Skipper Andy Butler felt he should have been awarded a stoppage-time penalty after tumbling in the box, but Berry was unmoved, Smith unamused and the Saddlers' play-off hopes largely undone.