25/03/2008 - Away-day mission ends on disappointing note
Gwyn Griffiths reports from the Bescot Stadium
What might prove an invaluable point felt more like a kick in the teeth for Steve Holland after Ian Roper's late, late leveller.
Crewe barely had time to kick-off again after the veteran centre-half struck in the fourth minute of injury-time at a snow-lashed Bescot Stadium.
Roper may well have been fortunate to have still been on the pitch by the time he rescued his side from the jeers of a critical crowd.
He edged ahead of Ben Williams to apply a close-range header to Lee Holmes's corner.
But having picked up a booking as early as the fifth minute for scything down Dean Morgan, the defender went on to tread a precarious path - helped by referee Fred Graham's leniency.
Yet the Essex official was a stickler when it came to time added on as Byron Moore's introduction allowed the Saddlers enough vital seconds over the three minutes allotted to snatch a point.
With Gillingham coming to grief at Port Vale, for half-an-hour we toyed with the happy notion of a seven-point cushion.
Five doesn't seem quite so comfortable with the Gills still possessing a game in hand.
But if Crewe can reproduce this sort of hard-working display in their remaining three away games at Luton, Yeovil and Bournemouth, then it will take something exceptional now from Mark Stimson's Gillingham side to overhaul them.
The pleasing return to form of Nicky Maynard has been pivotal to Alex's success in the last three games.
Maynard swiftly made up for a poor miss early in the second-half when he fired Crewe ahead just past the hour mark with some clinical work.
After Tom Pope held the ball up, there was only the glimmer of goal, until the youngster swivelled and found the far corner with a breathtaking finish.
It was his fourth goal in three games and it was ideally timed after a predictable onslaught from Walsall set the tone for the second half.
Crewe were indebted to Williams again for some agile work between the posts as another of Walsall's 30-somethings - Tommy Mooney - came close to breaking the deadlock on several occasions.
When Mooney latched on to a Michael Dobson pass midway through the first half, it needed a great block from the Mancunian to stop the well-travelled frontman's volley crashing in.
He followed that up with two even better saves to keep out Mooney headers.
The second, in first-half stoppage time, was agility in the extreme as he got across his goal to palm out a strong downward header bound for the bottom corner.
Former Watford man Mooney wasn't short of a supply line as traditional wingers Edrissa Sonko and Alex transfer window target Holmes fired them in from right and left respectively.
Crewe, on the other hand, relied on indisciplined challenges, from Roper in particular, to get a scent of goal.
Kenny Lunt wasted one free-kick by blasting it straight at the wall, while Michael O'Connor curled another over the bar.
Walsall keeper Clayton Ince was largely untroubled before the break, but almost gifted his former club a goal when he let Maynard's shot slip out of his reach with the help of a bobble.
Fortunately, for the Trinidadian's dignity, the ball arrowed wide, as did Morgan's side-footed attempt to pick out the bottom corner - a better chance than he seemed to realise he had as the half drew to a close.
Walsall's failure to breach a rearguard action led by the height of Julien Baudet and the cool play of Danny Woodards forced Walsall boss Richard Money's hand shortly after the re-start.
And the introduction of Alex Nicholls and Troy Deeney lifted the tempo for a while with Mooney again forcing Williams into evasive action to keep out a blistering volley.
But Maynard's goal was the perfect response to a side whose play-off hopes have been hit hard by a four-game winless sequence.
Pope then headed a Lunt cross just wide as Crewe threatened a second.
However, Nicholls enjoyed some leeway against a shaky-looking Patrick Boyle which offered The Saddlers a lifeline in the closing minutes.
First the winger dragged wide, then he forced Williams to go down to hold onto his angled drive after the Everton youngster left the gate open twice.
Despite the flutters, it looked as though the storm had been weathered and a healthy 500-plus Alex following were clearing their throats to salute a second consecutive away win before Roper's late choker.
"It was the last kick of the game virtually," said Holland.
"I thought we looked fairly comfortable and we'd seen them off. We turned around to each other in the dugout and said if we defended the corner we'd be there.
"But that is how football can be. The players are bitterly disappointed. We were that close to a huge three points. However, it is still a point and we are looking a half-decent team again.
"We didn't play as well as we could in the first half and Walsall got the ball in our box often and Ben had to make some decent saves. But we got the ball down in the second half and played better and Nicky's individual ability got us the goal."