Walsall analysis: Saddlers’ run ended as injuries continue to bite

Mat Sadler was not helped by a growing injury crisis, which has swept across the squad, especially at the heart of defence.

Harry Williams was the latest victim as he was ruled out with an ankle injury, although David Okagbue made a surprise return to feature for the first time since being withdrawn after 45 minutes at Salford on September 9.

The club’s top goal scorer, Freddie Draper, also missed out after limping off against Crawley Town on Tuesday night.

That created one of the game’s most interesting sub plots, as Danny Johnson started on his return to the East Midlands.

However, a familiar tale played out during the opening exchanges. No other side in the division have conceded more goals in the opening 15 minutes than Walsall (eight) and Aden Flint gave Mansfield the lead on the quarter-hour mark after the Saddlers failed to clear their lines from a corner.

Owen Evans initially saved Flint’s header at the back post, before bizarrely clawing the ball back into the danger area.

Lucas Akins then nodded the ball into the path of Davis Keillor-Dunn, who was denied at point blank range by Evans.

But Flint exposed Walsall’s statuesque defending inside the box to help scramble the ball over the line for his second of the season.

Mansfield settled into the game from that point onwards and began to dictate the play with Keillor-Dunn invariably at the heart of the action.

The Mansfield forward surged inside midway into the first period and Evans was forced to plunge to his left to produce an impressive low save.

Sadler switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 after 35 minutes with Ross Tierney dropping deeper.

But chances were few and far between for the Saddlers with Johnson’s wayward effort from outside the box representing their best chance before the break.

Isaac Hutchinson has been unable to build on his hat-trick heroics against Gillingham, and it felt as if Walsall also missed Oisin McEntee’s energy in midfield.

Keillor-Dunn raided the Walsall defence once again after the interval with a mesmerising mazy run into the box.

He beat a number of challenges before teeing up Aaron Lewis, who fired a golden chance over the woodwork.

Walsall would eventually reap the benefits of Sadler’s tactical tweak when Ryan Stirk hauled them back into the contest seven minutes after the restart.

Tierney released Tom Knowles down the right and Walsall got bodies in the box to receive.

Johnson failed to make contact with his low cross at the near post, but Stirk was on hand to tuck a tidy finish past Christy Pym and score against his former employers.

The goal came against the run of play, although Walsall enjoyed their best period of the game after getting back on level terms.

However, Walsall struggled to create any clear-cut chances with Hutchinson dragging one wide, and Stirk blazing over from distance.

Just as Walsall appeared to be growing into the game, ex-Villa forward Jordan Bowery delivered a deadly blow on 71 minutes.

It was a nicely worked Mansfield move which started inside their own half.

They eventually worked the ball down the left with Will Swan squaring for Bowery inside the box.

Bowery scuffed his effort into the turf and watched it spin out of the reach of Evans, before crashing in off the post.

Any momentum Walsall had gathered was lost. Sadler threw on Douglas James-Taylor and Jamille Matt in an attempt to salvage something, but it was Mansfield who always looked the most troubling in the closing stages.

Ollie Clarke sent a low effort which whistled wide of the post, before Evans was once again forced into a low save by the ever dangerous Keillor-Dunn.

It proved to be an unhappy return for Johnson with the defeat leaving Walsall in 15th place.

The table remains extremely tight with still only six points separating them from the play-offs.

But inconsistency has been the story of Walsall’s season so far, and a failure to reverse that trend will make it difficult for them to climb the table.

As for Mansfield, they extended their unbeaten start in all competitions to 19 games, and registered a third win on the spin in League Two.