Omari Patrick’s first league goal for the club since joining in the summer was enough to extend Rovers’ unbeaten start to three games and bring an end to the Saddlers’ 100 per cent record. It was the visitors who started the brightest and could have taken the lead in the fifth minute when Jamille Matt’s penalty was well saved by Luke McGee after the striker had been pulled down in the box. Less than 10 minutes later they were made to pay when Patrick was on the spot to smash the ball home from 12 yards after the visitors failed to clear the danger from a free-kick.
Before the break Walsall could have drawn level with Charlie Lakin and Conner Barrett coming close. Matt almost made amends for his penalty miss late on, only to see his header cleared off the line, but Rovers held out thanks to their third clean sheet of the season to take the points. Tranmere boss Adkins said: “The lads were great, the fans were great, as were all of the staff and everybody involved today.
“That was a tough game and you could see Walsall wanted to come here and bully and intimidate, but they can play football too and they’re going to be a massive force this season. “But we’ve got a team and together everyone achieves more and we’ve grafted today, we needed the lads to stand up and be counted at times and they did that today. “I’m delighted with the group of players, I know we can play football and I know we can score goals, but we’ve also got heart, soul and resilience a.
