A goal deep into injury time from Damien Francis snatched three precious points for Wimbledon and robbed Walsall of a deserved draw.

Francis exploited hesitancy in the Walsall defence to slam in a right-foot volley from 10 yards following a long ball into the box from Rob Gier.

Earlier, a penalty from Danny Sonner appeared to have rescued the situation for Colin Lee's men and denied Wimbledon their third successive league win.

Sonner capped a fine midfield display by slamming the ball home from the spot after Darren Holloway was judged to have fouled striker Jorge Leitao.

Wimbledon had taken the lead midway through the first half, the talented Jobi McAnuff racing on to a precise pass from Neil Shipperley before coolly rounding Jimmy Walker on 25 minutes.

Walsall pair Darren Wrack and Martin O'Connor were guilty of some serious ball watching as they failed to notice McAnuff's incisive burst into the penalty area.

Walker then excelled himself in stopping Connolly's angled drive on 11 minutes, and did even better 13 minutes later, flying to his left to keep out Connolly's right foot shot.

But Walsall, who gave a debut to on-loan Frenchman Ludovic Pollet came back into the game well and deservedly equalised through Junior in the 41st minute.

The skilful forward poked the ball past Davis for his sixth goal of the season after good work by Steve Corica and Leitao.

And Leitao himself was very unfortunate to see his left-foot shot travel just wide in the 19th minute.

The match undoubtedly turned on a controversial penalty decision in the 66th minute.

Referee Alan Butler penalised Pollet for a push on Francis, and Shipperley tucked the ball into the corner from 12 yards.

But the award was an extremely debatable one, and resulted in O'Connor being booked in the furious protests that followed.

And Butler got involved in the game once more following Francis' late goal mysteriously sending off Dons defender Gier following a Walsall free-kick into the penalty area.

Wimbledon: Davis, Holloway, Gier, Leigertwood, Hawkins, McAnuff, Andersen, Reo-Coker, Darlington, Shipperley, Connolly. Subs: Francis, Agyemang, Heald, Morgan, Gray.

Walsall: Walker, Bazeley, Hay, Pollet, Carbon, Wrack, O'Connor, Sonner, Corica, Leitao, Junior. Subs: Zdrilic, Barras, Wright, Simpson, Ward.

Referee: A Butler (Nottinghamshire).