On Saturday afternoon Walsall Football Club played host to Leyton Orient in the latest Sky Bet League 1 fixture of the season, blogger Scott Brotherton was in attendance, and shares his match report below.
With Anthony Forde out of the squad through injury it seemed as though Dean Smith had gone 4-3-3 with Romaine Sawyers, Tom Bradshaw and Jordy Hiwula all in the eleven.
Andy Taylor's tame free kick was an easy starter for Orient keeper Alex Cisak and Jordan Cook's free kick under the wall was also straight at the on-loan Burnley stopper.
It took until 25 minutes for any more goalmouth action, as a pass was floated through to The Os Jobi McAnuff, but Richard O'Donnell charged out and spread himself well to deny the ex-Reading man before smothering the ball.
The Walsall defence then allowed Chris Dagnall in behind, with the striker firing the first-time shot wide from the edge of the box.
Fabio Liverani's side were growing in confidence and a throw direct to Mooney in the area caused all sorts of problems.
The proven goalscorer, who netted 21 times last campaign, showed his strength to hold up the ball before spinning and flashing a shot across goal from a tight angle.
Dagnall then glanced a header wide after more lax defending from the Saddlers.
The hosts were extremely quiet up top, and Cook's teasing cross across the six-yard box proved the best they could muster before half-time.
HT WALSALL 0 LEYTON ORIENT 0
After the break there was a brief improvement as Walsall looked more positive on the attack.
Sawyers found space but his shot took a double ricochet with the last touch coming off Bradshaw and drifting wide.
That short spurt didn't last long though and Orient began to look more and more dangerous before breaking the deadlock on 56 minutes.
A nice dinked ball from Dagnall cut out the whole Walsall defence and Ryan Hedges was on hand to set his feet hammer into the bottom corner.
Only three minutes later it was game over when Hedges and Dagnall combined again.
A smart pass from Hedges found Dagnall, who had ghosted in and found himself in tonnes of room in the box. The experienced frontman didn't need a second invitation and unleashed a powerful shot past O'Donnell from the tight angle.
The Os had their tails up and became a constant threat with the ball while the Saddlers never looked likely to break the visitors down.
Reece Flanagan, Amadou Bakayoko and Ashley Grimes were subbed on in a last desperate throw of the dice but it made little difference, especially to the worryingly frail-looking back four.
Orient carved open the defence yet again late on but Dagnall's replacement Jay Simpson stroked his side-footer narrowly wide.
Flanagan drilled past the post and Bakayoko had a shot blocked but there was still no cohesion to Walsall's attacking play.
Sawyers hopeful strike then drew a save from big Pole Cisak, prompting sarcastic cheers from the frustrated home fans.
With four shots on target - none of which ever looked like going in - and with their passing and defending all over the place, it would be hard to argue with anyone who branded this as Walsall's worst home performance this season.
Dean Smith's men slip down to 16th and it looks as though the play-off dream is over, while they hover just six points above the League One relegation zone on 41 points.
By: Scott Brotherton.
RESULT WALSALL 0 LEYTON ORIENT 2
GOALS Hedges 56', Dagnall 59'
AT Banks's Stadium (Walsall)
ATTENDANCE 5,239 (451 Leyton Orient)
REFEREE Mr. Eddie Ilderton (Tyne & Wear)
WALSALL O'Donnell; Purkiss , J.Chambers, O'Connor, Taylor; A.Chambers, Cain (Flanagan 66'); Cook (Grimes 74'), Sawyers, Hiwula; Bradshaw (Bakayoko 81')
SUBS NOT USED MacGillivray; Downing; Baxendale; Murphy
LEYTON ORIENT Cisak; O'Neill, Baudry, Lowry (Cuthbert 90+1'), Dossena, Hedges (Cox 75'), Wright, Vincelot, McAnuff, Mooney, Dagnall (Simpson 83')
SUBS NOT USED Woods, Clarke, Sawyer, Bartley