Shaun Goater's 23rd goal of the season rescued a point for Manchester City and lifted them back to second spot in the First Division.

The Bermudan international took advantage of a mix-up in the Walsall box in the 71st minute to deny the visitors their first ever win at Maine Road in nine attempts.

The Saddlers appeared to be comfortably defending their first-half lead - and looked more than capable of adding to their advantage - when Goater, the division's leading scorer, struck his 16th goal in 17 games.

Captain Richard Edghill, who had been the target of the home fans' boos on a frustrating afternoon for the Blues, crossed from the right, and Walsall goalkeeper James Walker seemed to have the ball covered.

But his captain Adrian Viveash crossed in front of him, forcing Walker to spill the ball. City substitute Robert Taylor got to the loose ball first, and in the resultant scramble Jeff Whitley also got a touch before it ricocheted to Goater 12 yards out.

He picked his spot and rolled the ball into the corner of the net to present City with a vital point the day after his 30th birthday.

City, however, had looked anything like automatic promotion contenders up to that point.

They had fallen behind in the 43rd minute to a Pedro Matias goal.

Walsall striker Kevin Harper picked out Matias with a cross from the right, and the Spanish midfielder turned inside Whitley before firing in a shot from the edge of the box which clipped Edghill and cannoned into the net.

England Under-21 goalkeeper Nick Weaver was completely wrong-footed and had no chance with the goal.

City boss Joe Royle made a double substitution at half-time, with Taylor replacing Paul Dickov up front and Tony Grant taking over from Kevin Horlock - booked for not retreating for a free-kick early on - in midfield.

The tactical switch temporarily seemed to have worked with the Blues starting the second half with much more purpose, but Walsall's growing confidence should have resulted in them going further ahead after 51 minutes.

Michael Ricketts called for co-striker Harper to feed him from the left but when the ball came over he missed connecting by inches when a touch would have made it 2-0.

Both goalkeepers pulled off magnificent saves in the dying minutes.

Walker made an instinctive block on his line from Ian Bishop's six-yard header in the 85th minute, and Weaver surpassed that with a brilliant one-handed save from Walsall debutant Michalis Vlachos two minutes from time.

Teams:

Man City: Weaver, Edghill, Granville (Crooks 80), Wiekens, Jobson, Horlock (Grant 46), Bishop, J. Whitley, Kennedy, Goater, Dickov (Taylor 46).

Subs Not Used: Peacock, Wright.

Booked: Horlock, Crooks.

Goals: Goater 71.

Walsall: Walker, Brightwell, Padula, Viveash, Barras, Vlachos, Bukran, Wrack, Ricketts (Robins 90), Harper, Matias.

Subs Not Used: Forrester, Gadsby, Roper, Keates.

Booked: Vlachos.

Goals: Matias 43.

Att: 32,438

Ref: D Crick (Worcester Park).