Walsall debrief: Evening to remember as Saddlers head for Wembley Way

Walsall were good value for their victory against Chesterfield over the two legs. As players, they covered every blade of grass and came out 4-1 winners on aggregate. 

The Express & Star has looked at some of the talking points from the clash. 

Memorable atmosphere

Games like Friday night are ones you will always remember as a supporter of a football team. 

Just under 10,000 fans were inside the stadium, and it was a raucous atmosphere as the home faithful got behind their troops and became their 12th man. 

Having a lead to defend helped. Every tackle, interception and block was wildly cheered and applauded. 

The scenes of pure jubilation when Charlie Lakin scored to make it 1-0 were brilliant, and they were even better when Levi Amantchi put the tie to bed late on -  pitch invasion aside.  

Incredible defensive display

It was a mature display from the Saddlers as they handled the occasion over the two legs better than the Spireites. 

Of course, there were one or two scary moments where bodies were needed to keep the ball out of the net. 

Tommy Simkin, apart from running the clock down through ‘injury’, was not overly tested in the second match. 

Walsall were so well organised, and big parts of the game saw Chesterfield’s central defenders passing it between themselves as they tried to create an opening. 

Albert Adomah masterclass

The experienced winger put in a jaw-dropping cameo in the clash to get his team over the line. 

He might not be as young as he once was, but at 37, he has been there and done it like no other. 

He made the first goal of the evening with his wonderful cross to Lakin at the back post. But it was his outrageous piece of skill for the second, to skin the Spireites defender and dink it to Amantchi to head home, that was so impressive. 

You thought he might have gone to the corner, but what he did was pure class. 

Pitch invasions

While the atmosphere in the ground on the night was incredible, there were some fairly idiotic scenes at the end of the game. 

The second goal led to a pitch invasion with Saddlers fans charging onto the field of play. 

At one stage, you thought Paul Cook’s team were not going to come back out to continue the game.

It led to some pretty ugly scenes with plenty of Walsall fans who had stayed in their seats, unhappy with those who had got carried away. 

Sadler remained as cool as a cucumber throughout all the chaos. He handled himself in exemplary fashion - you would expect nothing less from him. 

At full-time with fans charging onto the pitch in all directions, he slowly made his way around the stadium to thank those Walsall supporters, who were still in their seats, for their support.