A long journey and the prospect of foul weather conditions wasn't much of an inspiration for a midweek winter trek to Yeovil but the way Saddlers started this game and lay the foundations for a terrific win made it all worthwhile. Chris Hutchings decided to keep faith with the players who let him and the supporters down at Brentford and kicked off with the rain and wind behind them kicking towards a thankfully closed away terrace-the 122 travelling supporters were sensibly housed in the covered Cowlin Stand.With just a minute gone into the game Darren Byfield picked up a loose ball and hammered a low shot that went just inches wide of the left post. In the 3rd minute following hesitation in the home defence, Troy Deeney nipped in to beat the advancing keeper Alex Mc Carthy only to see the ball go inches over the bar. That would have been some goal had it gone in but barely had another minute ticked by when Walsall took the lead. Steve Jones whipped in an excellent cross for the unmarked Byfield to head home from 7 yards.
Walsall were working hard, threading passes together and surging forward and looking so confident in everything they were doing-totally the opposite from Saturday! Whatever Hutchings had told the players they responded. Yeovil did produce the first corner of the game which came to nothing and four minutes later Saddlers won their first flag kick as the pressure on the home goal mounted.Troy Deeney crossed from the right to find the head of Steve Jones who stretched to plant a header into the top of the net despite the very best efforts of the keeper who got a hand to it but could not prevent the Saddlers taking a 2-0 lead on 19 minutes.
Midway through this first half however Yeovil woke up and started to look dangerous and it was no real suprise on 29 minutes when their man Jonathon Obika pulled one back despite the best efforts of Clayton Ince. On 35 minutes Ryan Mason tried his luck from long range but his shot went wide of the target. Saddlers did produce a couple of attacks in this period but didn't like quite as sharpe as those opening 20 or so minutes.
Just after the restart there was danger in the Walsall penalty box but skipper Mark Hughes, who never put a foot wrong all night,produced a superb saving tackle that he knew he had to get right and he did just that to prevent what could easily have led to a second Yeovil goal. The Glovers were really pressing for the opening 15 or so minutes of this second half but Walsall were in no mood to surrender and gradually worked their way back into things and again playing some decent football.
Yeovil had a couple of appeals for penalties turned down and as the half wore on introduced all their substitutes including Sam Williams who had a spell on loan under Hutchings at Bescot last season. Walsall introduced Josh O'Keefe for the hard working Matt Richards on 72 minutes and his first bit of action saw him win a corner for his team. Further Saddlers substitutions saw Sam Parkin on for Byfield and Alex Nicholls on for Deeney and both players went off to a terrific reception from Walsall's fans who appreciated the fact these two had simple ran themselves into the ground. Byfield took a couple of first half knocks but still gave his all for the team.
Just when we thought we were in for a tense finish Nicholls came in from the right, crossed low for Parkin and the big man steered home to seal a win fine for Walsall. Clayton Ince was kept busy towards the end with three or four saves to deny a fustrated Yeovil side who had become hard to beat at Huish Park. So a good evening's work as Walsall continue to head to a possible play-off position.