Boss Darrell Clarke praised a collective effort from his Walsall team after they survived an Oldham comeback before triumphing 3-2 at Boundary Park.

Elijah Adebayo sealed the Saddlers’ third straight victory with his strike 17 minutes from time on a night when the hosts had been thwarted by the woodwork three times.

Clarke said: “Games like that are not necessarily good for a manager’s heart.

“But it’s about trying to get a ‘W’ by our name at the end of it and that’s what we’ve done.

“When Oldham came back from 2-0 behind they were looking dangerous but then again so are we and we’ve proved that again.

“We’re adding goals to our game now and that’s so important.

“At 2-2 some of our fans at home might have been fearing the worst but credit to my lads for going again and getting the winner.

“It feels nice to have three straight wins under our belts now but there’s still a very long way to go, and a hectic Christmas schedule, so it’s back to work again tomorrow.

“I’m really pleased with the performance as a group.

“We’ve seen an increasing number of performances like that recently and long may our good run continue.”

Walsall led at the interval thanks to Josh Gordon, who slotted home from the penalty spot after Wes McDonald had been fouled.

Before the break, Adebayo hit the post while at the other end Alfie McCalmont and Dylan Bahamboula were both denied by the woodwork too.

Carl Piergianni’s unfortunate own goal doubled Walsall’s lead before Bobby Grant hit the crossbar for Oldham.

Dylan Fage and Piergianni grabbed two quick goals to haul Oldham level but Adebayo slotted home Walsall’s winner from close range.

Oldham’s recent impressive run was checked as they missed a chance to reach the top half of the table.

Boss Harry Kewell said: “We just didn’t quite have enough in the end.

“It’s a disappointing outcome of course but my lads gave it everything and I won’t be critical of them after that performance.

“Maybe we just put a little bit too much pressure on ourselves at times.

“We were unlucky not to get something out of the game, though.

“We battled well and we had some really good chances. We just couldn’t find that third goal that I felt we deserved.

“We missed that little bit more quality that you need in vital areas.

“Also the passing wasn’t as crisp and precise as it probably should be.

“As I said, though, I’ll only back my team after the way they played.

“They gave everything so it’s about learning as much as we can from this and moving on to the next game.

“Maybe if we’d had that little bit more luck, then we would have got something.”