Mat Sadler likes what he sees from his players at upwardly-mobile Walsall

Posted Sunday, March 03, 2024 by PA

Walsall’s wonderful form is no ‘flash in the pan’, said Saddlers boss Mat Sadler after his side beat Doncaster 3-1 to record a fifth successive win and climb to sixth in Sky Bet League Two.

Josh Gordon powered home a header from namesake Liam’s cross to give Walsall an early lead and they wasted chances to go further ahead before Kyle Hurst volleyed Doncaster level.

However, Jack Earing drilled home through a crowded area to put them back ahead before former Doncaster loanee Mo Faal rubbed salt in the wounds late on by heading home a corner.

“The lads are working really hard, they are listening to everything we are saying and taking it all on board, they love being with each other and growing together – that’s what’s special,” Sadler said.

“We just have to keep going and be relentlessly driven and focused – we don’t want to stop, we want to keep going. They are giving me everything, they are giving each other everything.

“Setbacks are going to happen, we will go behind in games because that’s football – the response and reaction from everybody is: we will get the next goal and go and win the game.

“I’ve been speaking about winning games in different ways and today it came from two set-plays, which is great. We looked a real threat from them.

“I think we’ve been good for a long time now, it’s not been a flash in the pan and I’ve known for a significant amount of time what a good team we’ve got here.”

Honest Doncaster boss Grant McCann accepted the blame for the defeat at his door as Rovers remained 20th but still 12 points clear of trouble.

McCann switched from zonal set-piece marking to man-to-man to combat Faal and that left Earing free to fire in Walsall’s crucial second goal.

“We didn’t start well and the conditions weren’t great but after we trusted ourselves and how we could play, I thought we were really good,” he said.

“Their second goal is a mistake from the staff, we’ve let the players down today.

“We’ve made a decision to mark Faal when we usually go zonal – and we’ve taken a marker away from the guy who scored.

“That’s cost us and I apologise to the players and to the fans. It’s a defeat that’s at my hands.

“We thought Faal was causing a problem in and around Timmy (keeper Thimothee Lo-Tutala) but we need to stick to the plan, stick to the process and we’ve let people down today.

“We talk about positivity and we’ve been negative in a situation and that has cost us today.

“It’s one of those days where decisions we made as a staff has hindered the result.”