Darrell Clarke: Walsall must stay mentally strong

In front of 4,812 fans at the Banks’s Stadium, the Saddlers took a first-half lead when Caolan Lavery fired in from close range.

But Grimsby levelled just before the interval through Elliott Whitehouse.

And then after the break, James Hanson - a player who has haunted the Saddlers in recent years - scored twice with one coming from the penalty spot.

The result means the Saddlers have lost three of their last four matches in League Two, with that leaving them 21st in the table.

“Like I’ve said to the players, it’s these moments you have to remember in football,” Clarke said.

“I’ve been in the game plenty of years now as a player and a manager.

“It’s these moments where you have to stay mentally strong, when everyone’s questioning you, they are questioning the manager, they are questioning the decisions.

“You’ve got to stay mentally strong.

“I’m hoping that the majority of fans can hopefully see what we are trying to build, albeit the results haven’t come as of yet but it will change.

“We’ve had a bad start to the season with a new group of players, but we will dust ourselves down and we will turn it around."

Hanson’s first goal came somewhat against the run of the play with the striker heading in an excellent cross from Matt Green.

His second then came from a dubious penalty, with the striker dusting himself down to score from the spot following a coming together with Cameron Pring - which looked nothing more than a shoulder-barge.

And Clarke admitted, on the day, Hanson proved to be the difference between the sides.

“The few opportunities they created we needed to defend better,” the manager continued.

“Hanson was probably the difference. We gave them a couple of sloppy goals and we weren’t clinical enough in the final third, albeit creating more opportunities.

“We need braver players in the final third to take opportunities, to take things on, we didn’t do that enough.

“It doesn’t matter how you perform and how much possession you have, if you are going to give the sloppy goals away that we did today.

“At 1-0 we had a couple of fantastic chances to go 2-0 up, those chances are where you have to take your momentum.

"We bossed a lot of the game with possession but lost the game 3-1.

“We have to be braver in the final third, it’s not rocket science. We’ve created more opportunities today, had a lot of possession, a lot of the ball but not been clinical enough and not done our defensive duties as I expect us to do them.

“That’s the reason why we’re coming in on the back of another defeat.”