Forest Green were victorious on the road at Walsall this afternoon, with a Matty Stevens brace and a Jamille Matt strike proving the difference in an impressive 3-1 win.

After two draws and two losses against Walsall previously in League Two, Rob Edwards was able to mark the first away game of the season with a first win against The Saddlers for Rovers.

Edwards made four changes to Tuesday night’s starting eleven against Bristol City, Luke McGee returning between the sticks, Dom Bernard in for the injured Jordan Moore-Taylor and Ben Stevenson and Matty Stevens also back in the side for the clash at The Banks’s Stadium.

It was Walsall who dominated the opening 15 minutes in terms of possession, with a flurry of chances falling to Kieran Phillips and Joss Labadie, but Udoka Godwin-Malife, Dan Sweeney and Dom Bernard managed to deal with the initial spell of pressure, standing firm at the back for Rovers.

The visitors looked likely to break on the counter attack on a few occasions with Edwards’ men quickly growing into the game.

Regan Hendry utilised his low centre of gravity and quick feet to break away from a cohort of Walsall men and switch the play across to Nicky Cadden, with the move eventually leading to a Rovers corner.

After being on top during the early stages of the game, Walsall suffered a major sucker punch when Matty Stevens opened the scoring after 20 minutes to put Rob Edwards and his men ahead.

The hosts failed to fully deal with a Hendry corner, with a tame effort from Ben Stevenson falling to Jamille Matt, the Rovers captain fired an ambitious and acrobatic overhead kick goal-wards, meeting Stevens at the back post.

The striker nodded home past Carl Rushworth into the Walsall net.

Moments later, Hendry was forced to clear the ball off the line from an Ash Taylor header as the game sparked into life.

After half an hour of play, the intensity of the occasion had started to slow, with Edwards’ men controlling possession in the opposition half at a lower tempo.

Following a lack of action from Walsall since the opening stages of the game, Luke McGee found himself called upon with the shot stopper making a fantastic save to keep out Phillips’s close range strike.

Rovers doubled their lead just before half-time, with Kane Wilson’s cross met by talisman Matt who superbly finished into the hosts net despite finding himself off balance and under defensive pressure.

The visitors then launched a vicious counter attack in stoppage-time with Ebou Adams surging forwards, before feeding through Stevens who forced Rushworth into a low save.

After causing chaos all afternoon with his dynamism and directness, Adams was dragged down in the box by ex-Rovers defender Manny Monthe, with a penalty given by the officials.

Stevens continued his impressive start to the season by stepping up to the plate and calmly converting from the penalty spot, providing his side with an emphatic three goal lead going into the half-time interval.

In the previous campaign, Stevens scored twice across 10 bit-part appearances, and the striker has already overtaken last season’s goal tally after just two games, with three goals for the 23-year-old so far.

Walsall came out the blocks slightly stronger than the visitors at the start of the second half, with a five-minute spell of pressure for Matt Taylor’s side, however Rovers continued to look dangerous on the break when going forward.

Connor Wilkinson, formerly of Leyton Orient, went closest for the hosts, hitting the post from distance after the deftest of McGee touches.

Rovers went on to dominate proceedings in The Midlands for large portions of the second half, with Adams and Matt both causing trouble amongst the Walsall backline and threatening Rushworth on occasion.

Stevens, Cadden and Matt made way for Jack Aitchison, Taylor Allen and Jake Young at various stages, with Rovers continuing to comfortably control the play.

Walsall managed to grab a consolation goal in the 92nd minute through Brendan Kiernan, but it was a very impressive outing for Edwards and his Rovers side, with two wins from two games a great start to the League Two campaign.