Nicky Maynard scored his fourth goal in his last three matches at the Bank's Stadium and that looked enough to give Crewe all three points this afternoon, only for Ian Roper's injury-time header to deny us at the death. The towering centre back beat Ben Williams to Lee Holmes' late, late corner and try as we might we just couldn't keep it out. It was the final touch of the afternoon and so harsh on the Alex who looked to have done enough to secure the points.
Maynard's wonderful finish just after the hour mark was that little bit of quality needed to finally break the deadlock. Maynard spun on a pass from Tom Pope to net his 8th of the season.
Following Saturday's morale boosting home win over Hartlepool United, Crewe Alexandra's first team coach Steve Holland was able to name an unchanged team for the short trip down the M6. The only alteration in the travelling squad saw Eugen Bopp replace Owain fon Williams on the substitutes bench. The young goalkeeper is away with the Wales Under-21 side that takes on Bosnia in the European Championships Under-21 on Wednesday.
The Saddlers started brightly enough with Kevin Betsy registering a shot on target in the opening 30 seconds. His shot from 25 yards was tame though and easily collected by Ben Williams.
Walsall also had their centre-half Ian Roper cautioned for a mistimed tackle on Dean Morgan after just five minutes. The on-loan wide man from Luton had tricked his way past the giant Walsall stopper, who deserved his punishment for a poor challenge.
Crewe's first real chance on a chilly afternoon in the midlands arrived after 13 minutes after Maynard was bundled over close to the edge of the box. Kenny Lunt struck the resultant free kick solidly in the Walsall wall.
Walsall had the better of the possession in the opening 15 minutes or so and they were keen to load our box with crosses, especially with the combative Tommy Mooney a possible target. Both sides were eager to get the ball down and play some passing football but chances were certainly few and far between in the opening passage of play.
The vastly experienced target man did get a sight of Ben Williams' goal on 23 minutes when a long searching pass from Michael Dobson dipped over the head of George Abbey and into his path. To be fair to Abbey he recovered sufficiently to narrow Mooney's angle but he was still able to force a decent save from the Crewe number one. Boyle and then Lunt completed the clearance after Williams had pushed the shot away from danger.
Two minutes later, Crewe were gifted another chance from a handily placed free kick. Roper was again the offender, this time untidily tripping Morgan on the edge of the penalty area. On this occasion, Michael O'Connor was inches away from really testing our former keeper Clayton Ince.
Betsy soon joined Roper in the referee's book after an over zealous challenge on Baudet. The striker caught the Frenchman as he beat him to the ball in the centre of the pitch. The official had set his stall out pretty early.
Maynard then forced Ince into an awkward looking save on the half an hour mark. Gary Roberts fed Lunt with a clever pass and his touch into the striker gave him his first sight at goal. The strike seemed to bobble in front of the big Trinidad and Tobago International but he got enough on it to scramble it behind for a corner.
Almost immediately, another fine header from Mooney forced Williams into his first noticeable save of the afternoon. He rose to tip Mooney's looping header over his bar for a Walsall corner. At last the match was beginning to liven up.
Dean Morgan had a couple of sights at Ince's goal. His first effort cleared the Walsall crossbar but he should have at least hit the target with his second opportunity. Maynard's back heal found Pope and instead of hitting it himself, he played in the unmarked Morgan. He shaped his body to roll into the bottom right hand corner, but dragged it wide of the post.
Williams was then called up to smother a chance at the feet of Darren Wrack after the experienced midfielder had timed his run into the Crewe box superbly well after Mooney had helped it on.
Crewe had to survive a late surge from Walsall after a wayward pass from Michael O'Connor meant for Boyle was easily intercepted by Dobson. After Mooney had hit the by-line, Crewe had to scramble it away inside their own six-yard box. Still unable to clear though, the ball was soon back into a crowded penalty area and Ben Williams had to produce a stunning one-handed save to keep out a downward header from Mooney.
The second period was a bit scrappy to begin with. The ball was in the air a lot more with neither side able to penetrate the opposite back four. Morgan did cross for Pope but he headed straight at the well-positioned Ince.
Eight minutes into the half and Maynard had another sight of goal after being played in by Morgan. Under pressure though from Anthony Gerrard, he could only drag his eventual shot wide of the far post.
Walsall boss Richard Money decided to make a couple of early changes with Troy Deeney and Alex Nicholls replacing Wrack and Betsy.
On 57 minutes, Williams was again called into action with Mooney unleashing a powerful half volley from 25 yards out. The Alex number one had to show his agility once more to tip the effort over his bar. The substitutions and Mooney's opportunist effort sparked the home crowd into life and the Alex had to remain firm at the back.
With the atmosphere improving, Edrissa Sonko shot a couple of yards wide just before Crewe went up the other end to open the scoring. Roberts, Morgan and Tom Pope were all involved in the build up, and after Pope had intelligently played it into his strike partner, the Alex youngster did the rest. He shielded possession superbly, before spinning sharply and firing past a virtually static Ince. It was a finish of the highest quality.
A few minutes later, Pope went close to doubling our advantage when he flew into a header via a cross from Roberts. Crewe were enjoying the better of it and a second goal would have eased the anxiety at this stage of the proceedings.
Money introduced his third sub of the afternoon with Sonko coming off for Alassane N'Dour. Walsall began to impose themselves on the game once again and Nicholls shot wastefully wide of the mark after Mooney had played him in.
Walsall continued to press with the robust Mooney working his socks off for the home side. Although some of our defending looked ugly and rushed it was effective with Baudet and Woodards again exceptional at the back today. When he was needed Williams was again very assured.
With five minutes left, Boyle did get caught out though, and Nicholls drew another fine save from Williams. The Alex keeper got his angles spot on to keep hold of it. To shore things up in the closing stages, Holland introduced Steven Schumacher for Morgan, who had performed admirably on the left flank.
With time ticking away, Michael O'Connor was also withdrawn for Byron Moore. Crewe looked to have survived the late onslaught only for Roper to reach a Holmes corner in the dying seconds of stoppage time and force home a dramatic equaliser.
