It was their cup final - Wise

Dennis Wise was keen to reflect on a point gained after seeing Alan Thompson's deflected injury time strike deny Walsall victory at the Banks Stadium. The Saddlers biggest crowd of the season were anticipating a crucial victory after Tommy Mooney gave them the lead with just 15 minutes remaining, before the irrepressible Whites once again showed their steel.

'We knew they would be up for this match - it was their cup final but we kept going and a point is better than nothing,' said Wise. 'I could not see anyone winning it at one stage. I thought it was not a fantastic game, but they scored from a set play and our marking disappointed me. Walsall had lost only one of their last 15 matches and you could see why, because they are well-organised and have some good players who caused us problems.'

Overall the United boss is happy with the way the season is developing for his side, with the division currently wide-open and lacking a clear pace-setter. 'I think it's going to be a lower points total than we expected from the winning team this season - lower than the last five years. A lot of teams have beaten each other and it has been up and down. It has panned out quite nicely for us. We looked at the first 19 or 20 games in a list, and we put certain teams on 39, 40 or 41 points after those games, but there aren't any runaway leaders.'