Michael Flynn admitted neither side deserved to win after Walsall made it three games unbeaten with a goalless draw at Carlisle.

The home side had the better of the early exchanges with Jack Armer, Callum Guy and Taylor Charters all having decent opportunities to break the deadlock in a first half that saw few clear-cut chances.

But the visitors, who have only won once on the road this season, came into the game in the second period and looked the more likely side to take all three points as Jacob Maddox’s shot flew past the post and Liam Gordon saw his fine effort flash just over the bar.

“We’ve got a very good defensive record, we’ve just got to improve in the final third but we’re getting there,” said Flynn after the game.

“No team was good enough to win that today and it was poor from both teams. The quality in the final third from both teams wasn’t as good as what either of us can do.

“There were a lot of loose passes and poor decision-making but it’s a tough place to come and they’ve got a good home record so I’ll take a point here all day long.

“It wasn’t the best game for the travelling fans and I’m not going to dress it up, but I just wish we could have got a goal for them when they make the effort to come this far.”

It was not all one-way traffic and Morgan Feeney and Ryan Edmondson both had chances to snatch it late on for Carlisle.

Manager Paul Simpson said: “It was a game that was hard-fought between two competitive teams.

“Both sides just seemed to cancel each other out and there was no real flow to the game but I think we’ve got to score from one of the corners we put in the box in the second half.

“We’ve had chances and I don’t think they’ve really troubled us and I suppose the credit has to go to the way the players have defended.

“I knew this was going to be a tough game today. These are one of the in-form sides in the league. I felt we had more to offer but we didn’t have that spark we wanted from everybody.”

“There are occasions where we would have lost that game today but we got a point out of it because we stuck to our task, defended set-plays really well and that’s got to be a positive – it could turn out to be a really important point.”