Swindon Town slipped to their worst home defeat of the season, equal to Brighton in December, with a disappointing performance as former Town loanee Lee Holmes scored once in each half before Alex Nicholls sealed all three points for the Saddlers, writes Adrian Smith.
Walsall had the ball in the net in the 2nd minute through a header by Tommy Mooney but the assistant referee's flag had already been raised for offside.
Simon Cox was looking lively in attack and he had several attempts blocked by Anthony Gerrard at the expense of a corner but Swindon were unable to threaten from the resulting cross.
Walsall took the lead from a free-kick in the 12th minute after Ifil and Aljofree had hesitated at a Walsall attack and Ifil eventually tripped.Betsy. Up stepped former Swindon loanee Lee Holmes to fire in an unstoppable left footed shot past Phil Smith in front of the stunned Town End.
Walsall were clearly having the better of the play and seemed to have acres of space down Swindon's left wing as the visitors bypassed Swindon's midfield with ease.
Swindon were really struggling to get any coherent passing moves going although Billy Paynter eventually managed fire in Swindon's first clear shot on goal in the 27th minute after the ball had reached him via Simon Cox.
Swindon upped the tempo in the final 15 minutes of the half with Craig Easton starting to get control of midfield and he was able to start bringing Paynter and Cox more into the game but Walsall keeper Ince was hardly being troubled.
Swindon had a corner shortly before added time but once again they failed to trouble the keeper and so the whistle was blown by referee G Ward to end a disappointing first half for Swindon.
Half Time: Swindon Town 0 Walsall 1
The visitors started brightly earning a corner in the 1st minute of the half but Phil Smith took the resulting cross cleanly before launching a Swindon attack.
Swindon's first serious attack of the half saw McNamee make a hash of an attempted shot on goal although shortly afterwards McGovern did well to ghost in at the far post to try and get on the end of a cross by McNamee but the Town midfielder only just failed to connect with the ball.
Billy Paynter had a good opportunity for Swindon but his powerful shot from the edge of the area took a deflection and went out for a corner but Ince was able to gather the cross easily.
Lee Holmes and Miguel Commnges were both shown yellow cards in the 56th minute after Comminges had reacted badly to a late challenge by Holmes. The scoreline got worse for Swindon one minute later when a through ball by Bradley was chased by Lee Holmes into the penalty area and although Phil Smith managed to parry Holmes's first effort, the ball rebounded kindly for Holmes who had the simple task of knocking the ball into an empty net. Shortly afterwards Edrissa Sonko was replaced by Troy Deeney as Walsall manager Richard Money shuffled his pack.
Maurice Malpas decided to try and inject some much needed pace and urgency into Swindon's play in the 62nd minute by replacing McGovern with Christian Roberts and he was soon in he action with some good runs down the right wing.
Tommy Mooney left the field shortly afterwards to be replaced by Alex Nicholls and the former Town striker looked pleased with his contribution on his return in Walsall colours.
Moses Ashikodi replaced Comminges in the 74th minute as Swindon went to a 3-3-4 formation but Swindon's static defence almost let Holmes in for his hat-trick but fortunately Simon Cox had backtracked and made a last ditch tackle on Holmes and save the blushes of the Robins defence.
Simon Cox was lucky to be only shown a yellow card for a late challenge on Bradley in the 80th minute and the Walsall player had to hobble off the field to be replaced by Alassane N'Dour.
Swindon were still struggling to put any serious pressure on the visiting goal with Walsall looking good value for their two goal lead and the visitors were presented with another opportunity to go further ahead when Jerel Ifil clipped the heels of Holmes but Phil Smith took the resulting cross from the free-kick at the second attempt.
Walsall sealed all three points just as the match entered the 4 minutes of added time when Kevin Betsy outpaced the defence and although Phil Smih made a superb block, the ball ran loose to Alex Nicholls who sidefooted into an empty net from the edge of the area.
There was just time for Anthony McNamee to try and claw a goal back for Swindon with a powerful shot from the edge of the area but Clayton Ince managed to parry the goalbound effort at the expense of a corner which was easily dealt with.
The final whistle was blown to end a disappointing, tired looking performance from Swindon who had been hoping for much better things after the draw between the two teams in January.
Full Time: Swindon Town 0 Walsall 3
