Smith: We controlled the game

Walsall manager Dean Smith felt his men deserved to beat League One leaders Bristol City in a lively 1-1 draw at the Banks's Stadium.

The home side snatched a point with a superb 85th minute goal by Romaine Sawyers having fallen behind early on to Joe Bryan. "We controlled the game apart from a 10 minute spell in the second half, and their goal in the first half was a poor one to concede," he said. Smith also felt City - now unbeaten in 11 games - should have been down to 10 men midway through the first half after a tackle by City defender Derrick Williams on Reece Flanagan. The Bristol man was not even cautioned by referee Keith Hill, but Smith insisted: "If Reece hadn't seen it he would have been in hospital. The players has gone over the top of the ball, and Steve Cotterill (the Bristol manager) apologised to me. "The goal we scored was a contender for goal of the season." Sawyers, whose goal at the end of a flowing three-man move was his second of the season, now misses Walsall's next two games while on international duty with St Kitts & Nevis. City had delighted nearly 2,000 of their fans at the game by going ahead in the 11th minute. A deep cross from Luke Ayling reached Bryan on the left and he nipped inside James O'Connor before driving the ball low past Richard O'Donnell. Both sides went in search of the winner after Walsall's second half equalizer, with Wade Elliott and Aden Flint going closest for City in six minutes of stoppage time. City manager Cotterill said: "We are disappointed because their goal came in the 85th minute, but we are realistic in accepting a draw was a fair result. "We were not quite ruthless enough with the chances we had, which enabled them to keep their chins up, and their goal was a great finish when we looked as if we were going to keep a clean sheet. "Even after they scored the equaliser we had two or three chances, and I don't think the stoppage in the game helped us." Asked about the incident where his player, Derrick Williams, fouled Flanagan, Cotterill said: "I apologized straight away, and so did Derrick. It was more reckless than ruthless. He is not that type of player. I think he thought he was going to get clattered." Cotterill was, however, pleased that City kept their unbeaten run going, and added: "I knew this was going to be a tough game. They put three past Preston and three past Doncaster. Some of the football being played by teams in this league is very, very good."