Reece Flanagan backed to bounce back

Midfielder Reece Flanagan has been backed to recover quickly after his costly error in Walsall's defeat at Swindon.

The 21-year-old, on as a late substitute, was guilty of giving the ball away inside his own half.

It allowed Nathan Thompson to smash a last-minute winner for the hosts on Tuesday night. It was Flanagan's first appearance since the 3-2 win over Gillingham last month.

But he's received words of encouragement from team-mate Paul Downing, who reckons the youngster will learn quickly from his mistake.

Downing, who experienced his own share of inconsistent performances as a youngster in the first team, has been among the Saddlers most consistent performers this term.

And he said: "It's important he (Flanagan) keeps his head up. It is a good experience for him and the gaffer has trusted him to come on.

"That's the way we want to play – we attack because we want to win games. He will bounce back, he is a good player. He will learn from it and come back stronger."

The 2-1 defeat at the County Ground dropped the Saddlers down to fourth in League One but much like manager Dean Smith, who described the result as 'criminal.'

Despite falling behind to Jonathan Obika's first-half opener, the visitors enjoyed the majority of possession.

They looked most likely to go on and take all three points after Tom Bradshaw pulled them level, just past the hour mark.

Smith was left fuming by what he believes was an incorrect decision to rule a Jordan Cook strike out for offside. Downing admitted the Saddlers had been left scratching their heads.

He said: "It was one of those games. We dominated and had them on the back foot. They are not a bad team but we made them look average.

"We had the better chances and there looked like there was only going to be one winner. Of course it was a disappointed dressing room afterwards.

"People who haven't seen the game will probably be surprised by the result.

"But if you were there, we have been the better team by far and played some really good football but somehow didn't come away with the win."

Walsall will look to bounce back on Saturday when they host Bradford City before a run of three straight away fixtures, which includes next Tuesday's rearranged derby trip to Shrewsbury Town.

Downing believes that, while they may have momentarily fallen off the pace after a haul of just one point from the last two games, there is not a huge amount to correct.

He added: "We have got to keep believing. We are playing teams off the park. We have got to keep believing and know we are doing the right things.

"We've also got to learn from the mistakes we are making and keep getting better as a team and individuals.

"But if you play like we have against Sheffield United and Swindon then we are going to win a lot more games than we lose.

"We have got to keep working hard, get back into training and be ready to go again."