FA Cup exit fair for Hutchings
Walsall manager Chris Hutchings has admitted his side deserved to be dumped out of the FA Cup by Brentford.
The Saddlers never got started against the Bees as their Cup dreams ended with a whimper in the second round on Saturday. Sam Parkin and Troy Deeney both went close in the dying stages but they never did enough to stay in the competition.
A replay would have flattered the visitors and boss Hutchings reckons they were beaten by the better side after Leon Legge's 13th-minute winner.
He said: "Brentford deserve to be in the hat. I'm disappointed we didn't defend set-pieces properly and we should have learned from last week when we started slowly because the same happened again.
"Over 90 minutes they deserved to win the game."
The Saddlers were second best from the first whistle in a similar performance to the 1-1 draw in League One seven days earlier and Hutchings blamed the Saddlers' sluggish start for defeat.
He said: "In the first half I thought we were very lacklustre and we only really started playing in the last 20 minutes."
Bees manager Andy Scott believes reaching the third round, where they will host Doncaster, will boost his team's confidence and help them rise from 16th place in League One.
He said: "The FA Cup hasn't been too promising for me, when I was at Orient as youth team manager we beat Fulham at their place which was a good result but as a player it generally wasn't great.
"For us to get to the third round will instil a bit of confidence. We had a few nervy moments but we created some good chances and kept a clean sheet."
