Walsall were involved in a nail biting finish for the second successive week. Last Saturday they were denied victory right at the final whistle. This week they were losing 27 -20 with only two minutes left, and seemed to be in a hopeless predicament. They managed to work their way up field and secure possession from a lineout close to the Solihull try line. The pack produced a powerful drive which seemed certain to succeed. When the maul was collapsed, the referee had no hesitation but to award a penalty try. Andy Hawkins put over the conversion to draw the score level. There was a minute left as the visitors messed up their restart which resulted in a scrum for Walsall on the halfway line. No 8 Dickson picked up, made some ground and fed scrum half Bishop. He quickly transferred the ball to full back Paul Naylor, who joined the attack. He produced a terrific burst of speed to break through the defence and cover forty meters to score the winning try in front of the Walsall clubhouse.
This was a game that Walsall did not deserve to win,and, indeed a draw would have been a just result.
The team produced one of their worst performances of the season during this game, and were thankful for the two tries and two penalties that they scored when they had the benefit of the strong wind. Hawkins had given the hosts an early lead with a penalty, but then the game was delayed as a result of a serious knee injury to Walsall flanker Kevin Hazelhurst. The visitors drew level within ten minutes, when Sean Rai put over a penalty. But Walsall regained the lead after fifteen minutes with one of the few pieces of free flowing rugby that they produced all afternoon. Dickson made good ground and from the resulting ruck the ball was moved swiftly to Naylor on the right wing. He immediately showed that he had the speed and strength to beat the covering defence to score a fine try. Ten minutes later another Dickson instigated attack saw the ball reach Tom Emes on the left wing. He made good ground before kicking the ball ahead. Centre Richard Towe won the race for the touchdown for a try which Hawkins converted. But this was a far from convincing performance by the Delves Road team, and even against the strong wind Solihull enjoyed a great deal of territorial advantage. Just before half time they reduced the deficit when Rai put over another penalty to make it 15 - 6 at the interval. The visitors continued to press after the restart, and they were rewarded with an early score when Walsall failed to clear their line and allowed the attackers to break through - rather too easily. A rare Walsall attack gathered some momentum and a powerful drive resulted in a try for Dickson. During the next ten minutes however Solihull exposed the frailties of the Walsall defence on two occasions to establish what seemed to be a decisive 20 - 13 lead. But their thoughts of a first league win were dashed by an incredibly final two minutes which saw Walsall score those two dramatic late tries.