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Ronnie Moore kept the same starting eleven that beat Swindon eight days ago, with the only change in the sixteen being the return to the bench of winger Chris Shuker at the expense of midfielder John Mullin.
It took just three minutes for Tranmere to take the lead as Jennison Myrie-Williams headed in his third Tranmere goal.
Andy Taylor took a short throw in to Shane Sherriff and then quickly recieved the ball back from the Australian. Taylor then advanced down the field before curling a beautiful left-footed cross to Jennison Myrie-Williams who jumped above his marker and headed the ball past Clayton Ince and into the corner of the net from 12-yards out.
Some pressure from the home side followed, with Walsall sending a number of corners into the box, although most were comfortably cleared by either Ben Chorley or Ian Goodison.
Sonko did get one effort on goal for the home side though, but he fired his effort over the bar from 25-yards. Soon after, Dobson forced Coyne into a low save with his free-kick before Robbie Stockdale made one of the tackles of the season, as Walsall broke quickly from a Tranmere corner and with Stockdale left on his own at the back, he perfectly timed a tackle to cleanly win the ball from Lee Holmes half-way inside the Tranmere half of the field.
Ten minute later, Steven Jennings tried his luck from long range but his low shot was straight at Clayton Ince before Danny Coyne did well to dive to his right and palm a Tommy Mooney shot away from goal after Walsall had once again counter-attacked with great pace.
Andy Taylor was consistently breaking down the left-wing as he beat his man and on 27-minutes he ran at least 30-yards before attempting a cross-shot but the ball went over the bar, whilst Danny Coyne covered his near post by collecting two crosses soon after.
Kevin Betsy twice went down very easily, firstly after Ian Goodison had made a good tackle to win the ball from the striker before the former Wycombe man decided to take a dive under a Ben Chorley tackle. On both occasions, the referee waved away Betsy's antics, but it was third time lucky on 38-minutes for the Walsall number 28.
Running through on goal, Betsy was challanged by Ben Chorley as he got into the Tranmere penalty area. As Chorley tried to get in front of Betsy, he made contact with the striker and down he went. Immediately, the referee pointed to the spot and Chorley was given his marching orders. From the referee's angle, it probably did look like a penalty, but as soon as the decision had been made, Chorley had to be sent off because he was the last man and preventing a goal scoring chance.
Tommy Mooney stepped up to take the spot kick for Walsall, and, the travelling Tranmere fans went mental as Danny Coyne dived to his left and pushed the ball away from goal, keeping Tranmre in the lead.
However, endless Walsall pressure followed before the half was out. The home side had a number of corners which Tranmere failed to completely clear, and on 44 minutes Walsall were rewarded for their pressure.
Again, Tranmere failed to completely clear a corner and the ball fell to Alassane N'Dour on the edge of the penalty area. N'Dour struck the ball goalwards and as it headed towards the left hand side of the goal, the shot took a wicked deflection off the backside of Shane Sherriff and spun into the opposite corner of the net, leaving Coyne, who had already dived to his left, where he would have had the ball covered, stranded.
Despite being down to ten men, Ronnie Moore didn't make any changes to his side at half time, continuing with Shane Sherriff at centre-back with Ian Goodison and striker Chris Greenacre on the right-wing.
The second half however was all Walsall, as the Midlands side completely dominated and had chance after chance to retake the lead.
On 49-minutes, Coyne saved from a Tommy Mooney header whilst Dobson caused the Rovers defence some trouble from the resulting corner, with the ball eventually cleared after a goalmouth scramble.
Mooney hit a shot just wide after Weston had found N'Dour who in turn played the ball on to the former Wycombe striker, before Walsall deservedly took the lead for the first time just before the hour mark.
Straight after the goal, Ronnie Moore made his first substitution, as Antony Kay replaced Jennison Myrie-Williams, with Rovers switching to a 4-3-2 formation and a three man central midfield.
The midfielder was quickly involved in the action as he helped to set Ian Moore up for a shot from 18-yards, but his weak effort dribbled wide of the goal as Tranmere looked to get back in the game.
Coyne saved a header from Roper header soon after, with Walsall claims that the ball had crossed the line being waved away, whilst Tranmere could well have had a penalty as Ince brought down Greenacre in the penatly area but the striker had been flagged offside after running on to Ian Moore's flick-on.
Minutes later, Tranmere had another penalty claim waved away as Ian Goodison appeared to be caught on the ankle well after the ball had gone as he looped the ball across goal from near the line.
On 72-minutes, Ronnie Moore looked to change his team again as Calvin Zola replaced Chris Greenacre upfront, but from when he got on the field, Zola recieved nothing from the referee. Indeed, he and Antony Kay appeared to be penalized every time they jumped for headers whilst niggling fouls were given against Zola but not for him when the same thing happened from an opposition player.
With 13-minutes left, Tranmere were close again as Walsall only half cleared a Rovers set-piece and the ball fell to Ian Goodison 10-yards from goal, but the defender could only stab the ball just wide of the post with the goal gaping.
However, this was hardly surprising as Goodison has still only scored two competative goals for Tranmere, with the last one coming two years ago in a 2-2 draw away to Yeovil.
Tranmere then managed to have a sustained spell of pressure in the Walsall half of the field, and it appeared as if they could get back in the game. However, the set-pieces were poor and Walsall defended excellently, quickly closing down any Tranmere player on the ball and dealing with any set-pieces comfortably.
Rovers came close again soon after as Ian Moore turned on the edge of the area and passed the ball inside to Zola but the tall striker couldn't control the ball as he only managed to flick it straight on to goalkeeper Ince.
On a number of occasions, the ball appeared to be falling to Steven Jennings on the edge of the area after a Tranmere corner of free-kick, but every time the midfielder didn't have a chance to get a shot away thanks to good defending.
With three minutes left Chris Shuker replaced Steven Jennings as Tranmere went all out for the win, and in injury time they had a free-kick in the Walsall half and all nine outfield players were in and around the Walsall penalty area. The ball however was cleared as Demontagnac beat Taylor and then carried the ball the full length of the field, only for his shot to eventually be blocked by Paul McLaren, whilst Danny Coyne was forced to race out of his goal and clear from the advancing Tommy Mooney moments later.
Tranmere in the end though couldn't quite get that goal, and it is fair to say that Walsall were deserved winners come full time, although if Tranmere had kept eleven men on the field through-out, it would have been a much different game.
The players just didn't seem up for it in the second half and we can only hope that they return for next weeks massive fixture with Nottingham Forest. Otherwise, Tranmere's play-off dreams could be ended for another season.
Jones' Man of the Match: Danny Coyne had a terrific match in the Tranmere goal, making numerous important saves and superbly saving Mooney's penalty, but for me the man of the match was Andy Taylor. The defender got forward well all game, putting in a superb cross for the Tranmere goal, and as ever put in an excellent defensive display.