Walsall went into this game in a confident mood with recent results and made all the early running. The visitors won a corner after just thirty seconds and their second in the 4th minute. Darren Byfield had the first shot in the match which was saved by Brentford's on loan keeper Szecesny. A minute later the home side had their first shot which Clayton Ince had to get down well to save from Wilson and a minute later Weston shot tamely at Ince.Saddlers were shocked on 11 minutes when Brentford took the lead. Strevens got in a header from close range that deceived Ince and went in off a post. A sickener as Walsall had made most of the early running and on 14 minutes the on-loan Bostock had a pot on target which Ince saved. On 20 minutes Manny Smith got in a terrific challenge to deny the home side who by now were dictating the pace of the game and Walsall's early sparkle had vanished.
On 21 minutes Troy Deeney did get in a shot which was deflected for a corner but it was just a brief moment of respite as Brentford's pacey forwards were causing Walsall all sorts of problems and on 27 minutes Ince was again called into action. Three minutes later the impressive Charlie Mac Donald got in a shot which was well blocked.
On the 40 minute mark Saddlers were awarded a free kick just outside the box. Matty Richards tried one of his specials that was on target but went off the head of a player in the wall for a corner. There was an incident in the first half where Bostock took a most blatant dive and although the referee waved play on caught up with the diver and had a word with him the next time the ball went dead. Shocking. The Saddlers players walked off to some boos, not as loud as at Wycombe but audiable none the less.
The travelling Walsall fans were hoping for a much better showing in the second half but the opening ten minutes or so was much of the same as the first. The Saddlers first shot in this half on 46 minutes saw Deeney shoot tamely hopelessly wide.On 58 minutes Darren Byfield, who was doing his best on the left to create things, got to the byline and attempted to find his man but his pass was too close to the keeper who collected.
Then at long last Walsall got back into the game on 68 minutes when Steve Jones, who had been devoid of service and well policed, suddenly nipped in the box from nowhere and drilled an unstopable shot which gave the keeper no chance. Jones, his team mates and the travelling fans alike, celebrated in some style as the sense of relief was so apparent. It was now game on and Walsall's confidence grew. The visitors won a corner a minute later as they pressed and at long last started knocking the ball about and finding their men.Jones was seeing more of the ball and on 74 minutes Mark Bradley had a shot on target which was saved and two minutes later Richards took a direct free kick that went just wide of the post.
Jones tried a shot on 83 minutes that went into the top tier of the stand but he was trying his hardest to search for the winner and at the other end Brentford had a late goal rulled out but there were further gasps when the board went up for 4 minutes time added on but the Saddlers survived and were happy with the point if not the performance over the 94 minutes and return to Griffin Park next Saturday in their quest of FA Cup glory....let's hope for a better performance next week.