ISHMAEL Miller had a mixed night as he made a welcome return to action from a month-long ankle injury - but missed several clear-cut chances to steal all three points in Albion reserves' goalless draw at Walsall.
The Baggies striker got 70 minutes under his belt on a tricky pitch that cut up badly as the totesport.com Central League (Central Division) clash wore on.
The visitors were also buoyed by seeing Giles Barnes step up his comeback from injury as he played the full game, as well as January signing Andy Slory.
Both sides found it difficult to play on the Banks's Stadium surface and, although Albion had the better of the chances, it proved to be a tale of two penalties.
A dubious 58th-minute decision by referee James Adcock gave the Saddlers the opportunity to take the lead from the spot.
But justice was done when Steve Jones stepped up and blazed high over the bar.
And in the dying seconds Joss Labadie won a spot-kick - but saw it saved by Clayton Ince after picking himself up to take it.
Labadie challenged on the edge of the box in the sixth minute and the ball broke to Kayleden Brown, whose deflected left-foot shot was just blocked by Ince.
The ball then rebounded off Mark Hughes onto the post before the Saddlers skipper cleared.
Slory found space after switching to the left wing and delivered a low pull-back in the 16th minute that Miller smashed over from 15 yards, when he should at least have hit the target.
Two minutes later Slory left three Swifts players for dead as he got to the by-line and fired a cross into the six-yard box.
The ball fell to Brown, who controlled but saw his shot well saved by Ince at point-blank range.
Four minutes before the break Miller found space 20 yards out and let fly with a low shot that Ince parried before grabbing at the feet of Brown.
And in first-half stoppage time Miller headed Sam Mantom's left-wing corner goalwards before seeing Hughes clear over his own bar.
Three minutes into the second-half Miller was in the action again when he spun Rhys Weston and drilled a 20-yard shot straight at Ince.
Five minutes later Mantom's free-kick fell to Miller in the box and he was twice denied by two blocks from Hughes.
Referee James Adcock bemused everyone by awarding the hosts a penalty in the 58th minute, apparently for an alleged push by George Thorne on Weston from a corner.
Justice was done, however, as Jones stepped up and fired the spot-kick over.
And two minutes later Miller spurned a golden opportunity as the assistant referee left his flag down and he powered in on goal, only to lift the ball over Ince and the bar.
A successful workout for Miller came to an end 20 minutes from time as he made way for young gun Lateef Elford-Alliyu.
The Baggies substitute almost made an instant impact when he fired a dipping 25-yard shot just over the bar.
Mantom flashed a 20-yard effort well wide of the left-hand post in the 85th minute.
And five minutes later Richard Davies wasted one of Walsall's few goalscoring opportunities when he fired into the side-netting from 12 yards.
The derby took another twist in the second minute of stoppage time when Labadie was brought down in the box by Netan Sansara, with Nottinghamshire official Adcock pointing to the spot.
The Baggies midfielder picked himself up to take the penalty, which he saw saved by Ince and cleared by the grateful Sansara to keep the scores level at the final whistle.
WALSALL (4-4-2): Ince; Borrajo, Weston, Hughes (Hickman 74), Sansara; Geddes, Bradley, Davies, Adkins (McCourt 80); Jones (Partridge 65), Paterson. Subs not used: Wren (gk), Wood.
ALBION (4-5-1): Kiely; Thorne, Connolly, Malcolm, Waghorn; Slory, Labadie, Barnes, Mantom, Brown; Miller (Elford-Alliyu 70). Subs not used: Allsop (gk), Lynch, Grier, Berahino.
BOOKINGS: None.
GOALS: None.
REFEREE: J Adcock (Nottinghamshire).
ATTENDANCE: 309.
ALBION STARMAN: Sam Mantom.
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