CRAIG Easton may not have the strongest nose for goal but the midfielder's hooter will at least have reminded incoming boss Maurice Malpas he offers more to the team than just his defensive capabilities.
Town's Scottish midfielder looked to have handed the Robins an unlikely win at the Banks's Stadium on Saturday when he glanced in Blair Sturrock's cross with his nose to give Town a 2-1 lead but, in a topsy-turvy game, Edrissa Sonko completed his brace a minute later to earn the Saddlers a point.
Andy Nicholas' 65th-minute screamer cancelled out Sonko's first-half opener and started a sequence of three goals in as many minutes as Town gave their high-flying League One hosts an almighty scare.
The watching Malpas, who is expected to be officially appointed on Tuesday, would have been returning from the Midlands with positive thoughts about the task ahead as Easton & Co outplayed and out-thought the Division's form side for lengthy second half periods.
Easton's header, from Blair Sturrock's precise left-wing cross, was only his second Town goal since moving from Leyton Orient in the summer and he admits he could not have picked a better time to have re-started on the goal trail.
Having played alongside Malpas at Dundee United in the 1990s, and under him when he became assistant manager there, Easton is relishing the imminent new era and hopes his new boss has seen enough to build on.
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He said: "The manager will probably say he has not seen many of them but I scored a couple for Dundee United and I just needed to try and jog his memory today. Hopefully I get a few more.
"It was a good ball in and the ball hit me. I thought the defender was getting in but the keeper had earlier made a great save and it looked as though he was going to be unbeatable. I think it has hit my nose.
"I think Maurice Malpas will have seen stuff there he can build on and stuff he can eradicate. It is good times here at the moment though.
"We have good travelling support and it's a good club to be at. I am enjoying my football and we are just dying to start climbing that table. We can see it's tight and it is there for us. We just need to push on.
"I have played with Maurice and he has been my assistant so I know what to expect from him. It is a good appointment and hopefully we can take it on from here."
Going into the clash on the back of a 17-match unbeaten run Walsall started as overwhelming favourites but, after a spell of early pressure, it was the visitors who created most of the early chances.
Blair Sturrock and Jon-Paul McGovern could both have given Town the lead before Sonko opened the scoring with the hosts' first shot on target on 20 minutes.
Goalkeeper Peter Brezovan will be disappointed his defenders didn't react quicker as Sonko pounced on his reflex save from Mark Bradley's strike to side-foot his side into the lead.
Lee Peacock should still have put the hosts level though, hitting the post from an angle after rounding goalkeeper Clayton Ince, but after the break they more than made up for their lost opportunities.
Nicholas' bullet into the top corner on 65 minutes was followed by Easton's rare goal just a minute later as a healthy travelling army started to dream of celebrating Friday's completion of the takeover with a shock win.
Sonko's instant reply put a dampener on the party but by the final whistle no-one could have have been travelling back to Wiltshire disappointed by their side's performance or attitude.
"If we had held on to that lead for a while we would have gone on and taken the three points," said Easton.
"But it is a tough place to come, the pitch was not clever and we put in a good game. If you were a fan you would be happy to watch that and pay your money.
"The pitch was was difficult for everyone, defenders especially, but we dealt with it better in the second half and are disappointed with just one point against a team that is doing really well. That has to be a good thing.
"We are six games unbeaten now. If you look at that spell it is all about confidence and I am sure the manager would be happy with that, although there will be things we can improve on.
"I felt we were confident, even at half-time. I thought we were a wee bit unfortunate to be 1-0 down.
"But we came back out and took the game to them. We believed in ourselves a bit more, that was the shout from the gaffer."
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