Walsall boss Chris Hutchings revealed a half-time rollicking was the inspiration for the second-half fightback against Leyton Orient at the Banks’s Stadium.

The Saddlers were 2-0 down and struggling against Leyton Orient on Saturday but Hutchings’s dressing room rant saw Troy Deeney score twice within 12 minutes of the re-start to claim a point.

Ryan Jarvis and Tamika Mkandawire had put the O’s in charge and the hosts on the brink of a third successive defeat.

While boss Hutchings kept his words private but revealed his players were given both barrels at the interval.

He said: “It’s between me and the lads but the dressing room needs painting again. For the first minute we played really well and then conceded a bad goal from their first attack. From their first two attacks they scored two goals which gave them something to hang on to. It got a little scrappy and I was pleased to get to half-time.

“You give yourself a mountain to climb and sometimes you don’t get to the top of the mountain. We did on Saturday and in the second-half we thought there was only going to be one winner.”

The boss resisted the temptation to make changes at the break and was rewarded when Deeney netted just 15 seconds after the re-start.

But Hutchings reckons had they not reacted to his team-talk the axe would have fallen.

He said: “They needed to score otherwise there would have been one or two changes. We had a nice week where we hadn’t worked extremely hard and they should’ve been fresh and ready for it.

“It looked like we were heavy legged for whatever reason. At least we gave the fans something to shout about. The first goal gave everyone a lift and it got the crowd behind us a little more, you can’t expect them to cheer all the time when things aren’t going so well.

“We felt we gave them something to cheer about.”

A draw left the Saddlers 10th in League One, three points off the top six, but Hutchings believes they need to go back to basics to end their three-game run without a win.

He said: “We gave the ball away far too cheaply when we were not under pressure. I can understand it when we’re under pressure but when you’re not you can’t do that.

“Darren missed a great chance and just after that the ball came to him, he’s trying to flick it and turn when Matty Richards is 10 yards off him and he can play it simple. That’s an experienced player doing it.”

The pitch survived two morning inspections from referee Scott Mathieson and O’s boss Geraint Williams had reservations about the conditions.

He said: “I thought the pitch was unplayable at the start. I told the referee but he said he had so many years in the game and would get through it.

“It was a difficult pitch but a good enough game of football so you have to say he got it right.”