The turning point came with the half-time decision of Walsall manager Paul Merson to bring himself on in place of young Andrew Surman.
It was not as though the on loan midfielder had had a poor game, in fact he brought out one of the best saves of the match from Paul Henderson with a fierce left-footed drive in the eighth minute.
But Merson's experience and incisive passing were what was required to open up the Bradford defence and that was exactly what happened.
Bradford took the lead in the 20th minute when Simon Osborn brought down Steven Schumacher just outside the box.
Schumacher stepped up to take the free kick himself and scored his fourth goal of the season with a fine low shot which keeper Joe Murphy had no chance of saving.
It was a poor first half in which Walsall had most of the play, but seldom looked like scoring, although young striker Matt Fryatt put in a couple of shots which Henderson had to save.
Merson began to make a difference and it was no surprise when Walsall equalised in the 72nd minute. The player manager centred from the left and Emblen was on the mark with a superb dancing header into Henderson's left hand corner.
Both sides looked for the winner, although Bradford manager Colin Todd brought on young debutant Craig Bentham to do a man-marking job on Merson.
Walsall had the better of the chances, but Mark Wright shot over when well placed in the 77th minute.
Andy Cooke and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson both had half chances for Bradford, but Fryatt should have won it for Walsall in the 81st minute but hit the shot straight at Henderson.