Leyton Orient are still without a win in 2012 after a controversial red card and a stoppage time equaliser dashed their hopes of beating Walsall in a scrappy encounter.
Dean Cox’s 34th minute strike gave The Os the lead and they looked good value for it, even after Simon Taiwo was harshly sent off just before half time.
Orient worked hard in the second half but Kevin Lisbie, Calvin Andrew and Jimmy Smith all squandered opportunities to win the game.
So it was all the more painful when Walsall centre-half Olly Lancashire broke the hearts of a 4,000-strong crowd with a headed goal in the last minute of stoppage time.
The draw means Russell Slade’s men are just seven points clear of the relegation zone with 14 games left to play this season.
And a gutted Slade hit out at the red card which denied his side a win, telling reporters: “I’ve seen Solomon’s challenge again and it’s not a red card.”
“We did everything we possibly could, and it was made difficult because we went down to 10 men, but I thought we did enough to win the game comfortably.”
The first half was an ugly affair and it was largely unremarkable until Cox scored 11minutes from the interval.
Kevin Lisbie took advantage of an error from Walsall keeper David Grof to put the young winger in for his sixth goal of the season and send the West Stand into raptures.
But cheers turned to boos just five minutes later when referee Andy d’Urso sent Taiwo for an early bath, claiming the Nigerian ace had used excessive force tackling Florent Cuvelier.
The second half saw Walsall dominate possession but they struggled to break down Orient’s spirited defence, and nearly conceded again when Lisbie had a one-on-one chance saved.
It was a miss which proved crucial when Olly Lancashire leapt higher than Marek Stech to head home the equaliser and salvage a point for Walsall.
Manager Slade said surrendering another lead felt like a “kick in the teeth”.
He said: “You’d expect on another day to take those chances, and to concede a goal in the 94th minute is a big kick in the teeth, it can’t get any worse.
“Despite going down to 10 men we had two or three great chances to wrap the game up, but that’s probably our Achilles heel at the minute – that we don’t quite put games to bed like we should.
“At 1-0 with a few seconds to go you should make sure you hang on to the points, but we haven’t.”
Orient announced on Monday they are appealing against Solomon Taiwo’s red card, in a bid to avoid an automatic three-match ban.
Leyton Orient: Stech; Forbes, Cuthbert, Chorley, Dickson (Taiwo 7); Smith, Leacock, Spring, Cox; Téhoué (Laird 46), Lisbie (Andrew 66)
Subs: Porter, Mooney
Goal: Cox 34
Walsall: Grof; Taundry, Lancashire, Butler, Sadler; Paterson, Cuvelier, Peterlin (Bowerman 72), Hurst (Beevers 85); Grigg (Nicholls 57), Macken
Subs: Walker (GK), Smith
Goal: Lancashire 90+5
Referee: Andy D’Urso
Attendance: 4,183 (281 away)
