Mullen calm over late goal

Caretaker boss Jimmy Mullen had no complaints about the home draw with Hartlepool, despite Saddlers conceding an equaliser deep into injury time.

“It was a great start,” Mullen said. “To be fair, if there was ever a classic case of ‘a game of two halves’ that was it.

“We had much the better of the play in the first half but, to be fair to them, they came out and had the better of the second half, which I don’t have any complaints with at all.

“When you go 2-0 up, the next goal is always so important. If you get the third one it kills the game really but once they got the goal back it gave them something to fight for. Fair play to them, they kept going right until the end and got an equaliser.”

Mullen was pleased with the efforts of a defence who came under heavy pressure in the second half.

He said: “The defence showed a willingness to try and keep clean sheets and try and win the game and you need that from your defenders at times: last ditch efforts, throwing themselves in the line of the ball.

“Both the defenders today and the ones that are not in the team at the moment have done that throughout the season.”

He didn’t believe that the fans’ protests had any effect on the players. “I don’t think so,” he said. “You would have to ask the players really, but I wouldn’t have thought so, no.”

Mullen was pleased for Tommy Mooney to sign off with a goal in his last game in English football.

“It was fantastic for Tommy,” Mullen said. “With a bit of luck, he could have had another one with a header that he might have done better with, but he got a goal and I think on the day that’s what everyone would have wanted.”

The caretaker boss was also impressed with Ishmel Demontagnac’s efforts, hampered as they were by an ongoing knee problem. “I thought that Ishmel did very well today,” he said. “He’s still suffering a bit with his knee.

“He’s still sore and I think that’s why in the last 20 minutes he was struggling a bit.

“I think he took a bad knock when he was caught and it just opened his knee up a little bit and I think it was a bit sore after that, but because he was causing them a problem I thought he should keep going.”

Josh Craddock came on towards the end for his league debut, which also pleased Mullen. “It was great for Josh,” he said.

“He’s another one of the young lads that have come up through the ranks and he’s going to be a good player.” Hartlepool manager Danny Wilson was delighted with the resilience his team displayed to come back from two goals behind to snatch a point.

“I was disappointed to give two goals away the way we did but it was a great comeback,” Wilson said. “That wasn’t a last day of the season performance, it was a terrific performance and in particular the second half.

“We should have won the game with the chances we had but it was a terrific comeback from us.

“I have to say, there were some great tackles from Walsall’s defenders to stop us from getting back on terms earlier than we did.”