Crewe Alexandra vs Walsall preview: Boss calls on Saddlers to "write fresh history"

Walsall lost 1-0 against Accrington Stanley at Bescot in their penultimate game and failed to take advantage of Bradford City's 2-1 setback at leaders Doncaster Rovers in the early kick-off. 

That means destiny won't be in the Saddlers' hands on the final day, with Bradford boasting a slender one-point advantage in third spot. 

Sadler's charges spent 119 days at the league summit and seven months in the top three before finally dropping into the play-off spots over the Easter weekend.

While Sadler acknowledged it's not the exact position they wanted to be in at this stage, the Walsall boss was quick to point out that anything is still possible.

He said: "I'm not stupid, I understand the frustration. The frustration is there because of how well we've done and then we've had a tough spell. 

"But history is there to be written and rewritten again. We can't do anything about what's just happened so we can only affect what is about to happen. 

"Anything can happen on Saturday and being together 100 per cent helps the players and the supporters being right behind will help the group massively.

"It's another new experience for some of our younger players. It's not the way round we wanted it to be this time last week so who knows what the story will be after Saturday's game."

An eye will inevitably be on events elsewhere, with Bradford needing a win against Fleetwood Town at Valley Parade to guarantee automatic promotion for themselves. 

A draw could still be enough for Walsall to crawl into third spot although that would require Bradford to lose and fifth-place Notts County to draw or lose against Doncaster. 

Over 2,500 Walsall supporters are set to pack out the away end at Gresty Road in the hope that Walsall can turn the tide.

Sadler admitted that he will be keeping up-to-date with the scores in Bradford and Nottingham, but that it will not detract from how he prepares for the game. 

"It will be difficult not to be aware [of results elsewhere]," he added. "All the supporters will be and we'll probably have our own one on the bench as well. 

"But it's not about that. We can only influence what happens elsewhere if we do our own thing. All of that will probably add to the atmosphere and there will be over 2,500 supporters there to fill a large portion of the ground. 

"That is an amazing turnout. We've seen it over and over again, we just have to keep believing.

"We were all deflated after the weekend but we're fighters not victims. We spoke about it, we reviewed it and then we moved on. 

Jack Earing (ankle) remains a strong doubt after missing the whole of 2025 so far, although Ethan Wheatley will be available again after scoring twice for Manchester United under-21s last week.