I think sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition for preventing you from playing. I think if this game had been played seven days ago, the performance and result would have been different, but Walsall had their dead-cat-bounce from the managerial sacking and worked extremely hard. They harried us and frustrated us, and we were below par across the pitch. They actually looked a better side than the other strugglers we have played recently, such as Scunthorpe and Barrow, and would probably be higher in the table under a more experienced manager.
I agree with Ian that a draw would have been a fair result, as we had plenty of decent possession and the best chances in open play, for O'Connor and Nevitt in the second half. However, for the most part we just could not find the quality in the final third, and when a game is so tightly contested any individual mistake can prove fatal, as was the case with the penalty.
Individually, I thought Davies was excellent and our best player and Morris was ok. Hawkes was disappointing and O'Connor also seemed out of sorts and had an unusually below par game. I thought Hemmings played well, but really missed the link up with Glatzel, as Jolley and Nevitt just are not of the same calibre technically. Glatzel is apparently going to be out for several weeks, which is a blow.
As has been commented, not a lot has changed in terms of the league table, and promotion was never going to be won or lost in February. However, there is now more pressure on us to get results in the next two matches, neither of which are particularly easy.