Excuse the obvious pun but with that quote Mat Sadler has probably just worked out what life is like when you become a Saddler, writes Walsall blogger Mark Jones.

Four games in and it’s won one, drawn one, lost one plus the obligatory August cup exit (and let’s hope it’s the only one this month, right?). We’ve already had two sendings-off of our own, plus one for the opposition, two penalties conceded, a freak goal against and seen a two goal lead slip away.

We’ve also seen three successive distinctly below par refereeing displays but at least one of them saw fit to award us with a penalty – he’ll probably be disciplined or something. Even better than that was the outbreak of common sense that saw the overturning of Andy Butler’s red card in time for the match at Sheffield United.

Now some might say that the events at Brammell Lane should cause some concern. There is a certain degree of truth to this, being 2-0 up after almost an hour and then losing is never good, but I think there were more encouraging signs.

Sheffield United are the latest ‘big boys’ to visit the third tier of English football, joining their mates from across the city. The Blades have made a good start and will be challengers, yet on Tuesday night we more than matched them, creating the majority of chances, hit the woodwork twice, missed a good opportunity to score before we went 2 up, and, perhaps most importantly, played with confidence.

At the recent Meet the Manager Evening, Dean Smith talked about how he approached the difficult-looking run of fixtures at the end of last season. He rightly pointed out to his players this simple philosophy – the club is in League One, the opposition are in League One therefore they have every right to be on the same pitch as them.

I think we are now starting to really see the benefits of this policy, the players believe in the manager and are beginning to believe in themselves.

We usually put one over on one of the fallen giants at some stage of the season, a couple of victories over Leeds, draws at Champions-elect Leicester and Norwich and the improbable triumph over Southampton all spring to mind. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t add Danny Wilson’s side to that list.

But beating the ‘big boys’ isn’t the be all and end all of what Deano’s Walsall are all about these days. I think there’s enough evidence to suggest we’re heading in the right direction this season.

And I don’t think we’re in for a quiet one either.