The Verdict: The Lee Grant era promises to be an exciting ride

There is a growing optimism building at Walsall and the Lee Grant era is promising to be an exciting ride.

The question marks surrounding the lack of goals following back-to-back goalless draws against Grimsby Town and Leyton Orient respectively was answered in style, as Walsall ran out 3-2 winners in a thrilling battle with Accrington Stanley.

It was also the first win on home soil for Grant as Walsall head coach and the Saddlers’ first triumph at Bescot since beating Newport County thanks to Alex Pattison’s last-gasp stunner on March 21.

The performance was not perfect and they made it difficult for themselves in the closing stages, but the energy of this group is refreshing, and the football that they played at times was exhilarating.

It’s still far too early to get carried away. After all, Walsall have had their fair share of false dawns and have every right to temper early excitement with a dose of pessimism, but you do get the sense that something special could be brewing at WS1.

The biggest difference with this team is the desire to win, or pick up a result, at all costs. That was epitomised best by 20-year-old loan midfielder Isaac Moore, who unleashed his inner-Terry Butcher with the bloodied and bandaged look.

He was in the wars throughout and was backed up by his teammates in what descended into a very tasty battle in the second half in particular.

Walsall rose to that physical challenge and threw bodies on the line to preserve maximum points. Sven Sprangler constantly swept up any sign of danger and Harrison Burke made a crucial goalmouth intervention to prevent an almost certain equaliser in the final seconds.

Burke led by example with the armband and capped a strong midweek performance against Leyton Orient with another excellent display on the weekend. There is real competition for places in that back-line, with James Connolly dropping out, despite impressing in the early stages of the season.

Courtney Clarke is another who is fast emerging as a very important player for Walsall. He did fade after the break, but his performance in the first half was breath-taking at times.

Clarke has always had the ingredients to be a dangerous winger and Grant is currently providing him with the platform to shine.

He has complete confidence when dribbling at opponents, luring them in, before dancing or slithering into space, leaving his marker chasing forlornly in his wake.

That was illustrated perfectly in the build-up to the opening goal when Clarke darted inside, produced the cheekiest of nutmegs on Joe Anderson, before finding the overlapping run of Rico Browne.

Aaron Pressley was denied at close quarters by Accrington goalkeeper Louie Moulden, but Reece Smith was following up to convert the rebound with aplomb.

And with Clarke and Smith, Walsall have two wingers who will certainly get fans off their seats.

After opening his goal scoring account for Walsall, Smith capped an excellent afternoon with an assist for the third goal following a pinpoint cross for Pressley to head home in the second half.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the game was how Walsall conceded both goals so soon after scoring at the other end.

Josh Woods equalised within just four minutes of Smith’s eighth-minute opener and Stefan Mols took the same amount of time to halve the deficit, after Pressley had made it 3-1.

Ward has been almost faultless since joining the club, but would possibly be disappointed only to have parried Alex Henderson’s free-kick into his goalmouth for Woods to score the visitors’ first.

Nonetheless, Ward recovered well and so did Walsall. Pressley grew into the game after getting to grips with the physical approach of his marker Farrend Rawson and continued to build on his positive start to the season.

The Scotsman has had his critics, but he’s seriously rising to the challenge with Grant at the helm. He extended his season tally to three goals in five games across all competitions and is already almost halfway to his total of seven from the previous campaign.

That does not mean that Walsall should not be on the lookout for another centre-forward before the window closes on Tuesday, even if just purely for squad depth.

It only takes an options for the options in attack to suddenly look very slim, although Grant does have other options to adjust.

He has generally operated with Andrew Dallas or Tai Sodje as the second striker, but Lewis Simper could also play as a No 10.

Walsall won just twice in the league with more possession than the opposition under Mat Sadler, but they have been much more dominant on the ball so far under Grant.

They kept 62 per cent possession on Saturday and completed twice as many passes (360) than Accrington did (175).

In terms of the overall battle, the statistics also revealed that Walsall came out on top, with more ground duels (30) and more aerial duels won (33).

Grant and his team are setting the standards high and the challenge will be to maintain those performances levels on a consistent basis.

But so far, so good, with Walsall collecting seven points from a possible nine in League Two, and yet to taste defeat across their opening three league games.