Mat Salder: Analysts provide inspiration for Walsall victory

Posted Wednesday, December 27, 2023 by PA

Walsall boss Mat Sadler said his number crunchers had provided the inspiration for the Saddlers to end a decade of despair against bogey side Crewe by beating the Railwaymen 2-0.

Headers from Freddie Draper and Oisin McEntee gave Walsall only a second win in their past 20 meetings with the Alex – and a first victory in 11, a rotten run dating back to 2013.

“I was told about that by my analyst yesterday and I made sure my players knew it,” Sadler said.

“That went into my motivation for today – we want to right a few wrongs through the season which I think we’ve done on quite a few occasions so far.

“I thought we were brilliant and I thought we could have won by more, considerably more.

“We controlled the game – the back three or back five were very, very strong and the front two were absolute pests, a real handful.”

Teenage striker Draper, on loan from Lincoln, moved into double figures for the campaign and Sadler admits he hopes the Imps do not trigger a recall clause in the season-long deal come January.

“We have a really good relationship with Lincoln and we’ll keep talking. Obviously, Freddie has done great so let’s see how things materialise over the next few weeks,” he added.

“Did I know he was going to score this many? You never know. But did I know there was a player in there that would do really well at the level? Yes.”

Crewe stayed sixth but have gone five games without a win and boss Lee Bell was unhappy after both Walsall goals came from corners.

The Alex also needed goalkeeper Tom Booth and the crossbar to deny Isaac Hutchinson a brace while their only real threat saw Ryan Cooney’s sweet volley saved by Jackson Smith.

“It’s two really poor set-plays that have ultimately cost us the game today and we’ve got to address that quickly,” Bell said.

“We’ve got illnesses and we’ve got players on the pitch who probably shouldn’t be on the pitch, they should have had a couple more days’ rest but that’s how dedicated they are.

“But it was soft goals, really soft goals and I’m asking players to take a bit more responsibility with set plays, move people around and try to help with the danger.

“We’ve got some tough games coming up so we hope we can get some bodies back to freshen things up because people do need a rest, but we’ve also got to look at what’s killing us at the minute.

“We should have more points on the board – obviously we are going through a sticky patch but teams go through these types of situations and it’s up to us to respond to it.”