Jon Whitney: Red card united Walsall
Boss Jon Whitney felt a harsh red-card handed to Joe Edwards "united" his side as they secured a heroic victory over Bolton.
A goal from Jason McCarthy saw the Saddlers clinch a dramatic 1-0 win in a pulsating clash at the Banks's Stadium.
Whitney's men saw Edwards sent off in the 16th minute for what referee Trevor Kettle deemed an elbow on Chris Taylor – even though there seemed no intent from the former Yeovil man.
But the decision galvanised both Walsall's team and supporters – with the Saddlers getting themselves ahead and then heroically defending to a man to clinch the victory.
The result sees the Saddlers move up to 15th in League One, ending a six game winless run in the division.
"I wasn't expecting the red card," Whitney said.
"I thought it was harsh. It was just the reaction from their bench and the reaction of their player, doing two or three cartwheels before he fell over.
"There was no movement of the hand towards the face. Joe had his eye on the ball all the time.
"It was very harsh for me and I think he should have taken a bit more time and maybe liaised with his assistant referee before he makes the decision. He was too quick to get the red card out.
"But it united us. It actually had the opposite effect and resulted in a great atmosphere in the crowd.
"Credit to the boys, they deserve that. They have had some criticism over the last few weeks and a performance like that hopefully shows what we were talking about when we said we had belief in our players.
"They were outstanding, every one of them. I know Neil Etheridge has made some great saves but the man of the match goes to the whole team today."
Bolton arrived at the Banks's with an unbeaten record in League One. But even before kick-off, Whitney felt confident.
"The players deserve it but it was not a massive shock to me as I was quite confident coming into this game that we could get a result," the boss continued.
"I thought even before the goal we controlled the game and we were a threat and played some great football so there were lots of positives today.
"A lot of the boys are becoming men, they are taking responsibility and they understand how to play at certain times of the game. I thought the discipline today was outstanding."
