Walsall boss Mat Sadler hopeful of play-offs

Posted Sunday, January 28, 2024 by PA

Walsall boss Mat Sadler believes his side have the armoury to chase down a League Two play-off spot despite being held 1-1 at home by relegation-threatened Sutton United.

Saddlers captain Donervon Daniels curled home a fantastic solo goal to put Walsall ahead but Sutton equalised almost immediately as Craig Eastmond’s deflected shot was enough to secure a point.

Both sides had chances to win it with Charlie Lakin missing from six yards for the U’s while Tom Knowles and Josh Gordon went close for Walsall.

The hosts moved up to 13th with the draw, just seven points off the play-offs after an encouraging run of form since the start of December.

“We’ve gone up two places with that draw so psychologically we are looking up again,” said Sadler.

“We’ve got a couple of games in hand on the teams above us as well.

“So we’re chasing. We’re working as hard as we can to get ourselves in that area of the table – there’s work to be done and momentum to be found and when we find it we want to hold on to it.

“There are plenty of games in February, March and April which we are looking forward to attacking with the options we’ve got.

“When the key moments came today, we didn’t take them.

“On three or four occasions we worked some great openings, and then didn’t quite find the final ball that we wanted or the final bit of execution and that meant we didn’t get our noses in front again.

“We huffed and puffed and gave it our all but it wasn’t to be today.”

Sutton, meanwhile, are seven points from safety after a third successive draw under new boss Steve Morison and they now face two big home games against Harrogate and fellow strugglers Doncaster.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t win,” Morison said. “I thought we played really well. The team were excellent.

“Hopefully we can put a good performance on again against Harrogate on Tuesday and get that first win.

“The lads wore their heart on their sleeves and I’m really proud of their performance.

“We’ve given them lots and lots of information and asked them to do lots and lots of things and they carried it out excellently.

“We are a work in progress but we are going in the right direction.

“We are asking a lot of them, lots of new ideas all the time and they are trying to learn, and I think we are getting better.

“Seeing them work every day and the performances they have put in on the pitch the last three games, I’m extremely confident and the most important thing is that the players believe, and I think they do.”