Substitute Jorge Leitao struck with three minutes to spare to earn Walsall a draw against Wimbledon in the Division One clash at Selhurst Park.

The Portuguese forward cancelled out two goals from David Connolly either side of half-time which had looked to have given the Dons the points.

Wimbledon boss Terry Burton handed recent signing Hakan Mild his home debut.

The Sweden international scored the equaliser in the friendly against England at Old Trafford.

Walsall manager Ray Graydon made two changes from the side that lost to Bradford at the weekend.

Portuguese winger Carlos Garrocho replaced Pedro Matias, while Matthew Gadsby was preferred to Ian Brightwell in defence.

Wimbledon nearly got off to a dream start when Connolly's 20-yard shot in the first minute had to be turned behind by James Walker in the Walsall goal.

Connolly was a constant threat throughout the first period and minutes later only the post prevented him from opening the scoring.

Michael Hughes threaded a neat through ball to Connolly, whose shot from the edge of the area beat Walker but not the upright.

The Republic of Ireland international was eventually rewarded for his efforts when he opened the scoring after 29 minutes.

Hughes' cross from the right found Neil Shipperley who headed the ball down for Connolly, unmarked in the box, to slot the ball past Walker from six yards.

Despite Wimbledon's domination, the Saddlers battled their way back into the game on 42 minutes when Thomas Thorgersen levelled the scores.

He unleashed a powerful shot 12 yards out that took a wild deflection to leave Kelvin Davis stranded in the Dons' goal.

Darren Byfield came close to putting the visitors in front one minute later but his close-range effort was turned behind by Davis.

Connolly reacted quickest to Tony Barras' sliced clearance to poke the ball past Walker on 73 minutes and regain the lead for the Dons.

But just as the home side looked to have earned the points Byfield played in Leitao, whose fierce shot from the edge of the box gave Davis no chance.

[ --- news.bbc.co.uk]