Holden to the rescue as Saddlers win at last

WALSALL ended a 14-game win drought with a vital victory which dealt a further blow to Forest Green’s fading automatic promotion hopes.

Goals from Rory Holden and skipper James Clarke gave interim boss Brian Dutton his first win and moved the Saddlers nine points clear of the bottom two.

It was Holden’s first start for almost four months after a knee injury and the Saddlers’ sorry sequence of results without him had dragged them into trouble.

Dutton said: “We’ve won nine games this season and eight of them have been with Rory Holden in the team, so it’s not rocket science – if you get your best players out there, you win football matches.

“Rory is so bright. He’s not a player you need to coach. You put him out on the pitch and he makes good decisions.

“He’s a breath of fresh air, someone the team has been crying out for, a leader, a creative spirit. He improves the team vastly.

“That was a massive three points for us – in terms of what we need to do to get safe, we are not far away now. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

Walsall took just six minutes to take the lead as Emmanuel Osadebe exchanged passes with Josh Gordon before slipping an unmarked Holden clear to slot past Luke McGee.

Neither keeper was threatened for the rest of the half, but Walsall could have doubled their lead soon after the interval, Gordon steering Max Melbourne’s cross over from 10 yards.

But Walsall sealed their long-awaited victory after 65 minutes as Osadebe cushioned a cross into the path of Clarke, who scuffed a volley past McGee from six yards.

Jordan Moore-Taylor pulled one back with a near-post header from a corner after 72 minutes.

Forest Green suffered a fifth defeat in six and boss Mark Cooper admitted they are missing leading scorer Jamille Matt.

He said: “At the moment we’re having to chop and change because of injuries and form.

“When you take your 16-goal top scorer and a 6ft 4in midfield player in Dan Sweeney out of the team, it’s a blow and we’ve not recovered from it.

“We have to find a way.”