Mat Sadler makes January admission after Walsall's Wembley defeat
Mat Sadler has admitted that Walsall were unable to replace Nathan Lowe in the "way we would've wanted to" following their defeat against AFC Wimbledon at Wembley.
Lowe, who scored 18 goals in 30 matches across all competitions during the first half of the campaign, returned to Stoke with Walsall boasting a 12-point lead at the league summit.
Following his departure, Walsall collected just three wins from the next 21 games to miss out on automatic promotion.
That would eventually lead to a 1-0 defeat against AFC Wimbledon in the League Two play-off final at Wembley and Sadler pointed to January as a key lesson to learn from.
Sadler, as he alluded to in his pre-match press conference, also singled out the injuries to George Hall and Jack Earing either side of the New Year.
"Recruitment is everything, we know that. We lost three really key players at the same time which we didn't replace in the way that we wanted to," the Walsall boss revealed.
"That's not easy sometimes, especially when you've had such success with what we had. By nature of that, you can see with the group that it's tough.
