Walsall 2 Port Vale 2 - Saddlers lose 6-5 on penalties

Florent Cuvelier's penalty and Will Grigg's strike put the Saddlers in control but Ryan Burge and Tom Pope levelled for Vale in a breathless second-half.

Louis Dodds hit the post in injury time before the game went to penalties and after the entire team had gone through the shoot-out goalkeeper Karl Darlow's effort was saved by Sam Johnson – who then scored the winning kick.

Paul Downing was handed a full debut as Richard Taundry and Ashley Hemmings replaced Ben Purkiss and George Bowerman from Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Carlisle.

But the Saddlers started slowly and Darlow was forced to save well from John McCombe and Pope's 20-yard drive inside the first seven minutes.

The keeper had to be alert when Pope wriggled free again as Vale continued their early pressure with Walsall struggling to contain the League Two high-flyers.

The Saddlers carved out two half chances when Hemmings headed over and Andy Taylor's free-kick slammed into the Vale wall from 30-yards as they began to find their feet.

And they were awarded a penalty after 24 minutes when Cuvelier was sent tumbling by Richard Duffy and the Stoke loanee picked himself up to send Sam Johnson the wrong way from the spot.

Duffy and Ashley Vincent were booked for dissent in the aftermath with the goal knocking Vale's early verve and spark.

Hemmings fired wide from 30-yards five minutes before break with the Saddlers comfortably in control against the noticeably muted visitors.

Grigg's jinking run ended with his shot deflecting over but the striker wasn't to be denied 80 seconds after the break when he robbed Duffy and drilled past Johnson from an angle to make it 2-0.

But the two-goal advantage lasted two minutes when Ryan Burge was allowed to run unchecked and his low shot from 20-yards found the corner.

It was a sign of things to come as Paterson and then Hemmings were denied by Johnson and the high-octane half continued when Pope held off Butler to level on the hour.

The Saddlers were stunned and struggled to respond as Vale threatened a third through Ben Williamson.

And in stoppage time substitute Dodds smacked the post after Vale caught the Saddlers on the break before the penalty drama.

Bowerman, Butler, Downing, Jake Jones and Taylor scored but the Saddlers were dumped out.