Jon Whitney: Walsall loss made me 'sick to the stomach'

A disastrous first-half display saw the Saddlers concede four goals in just 18 minutes as Paul Warne’s side ran out convincing winners at the New York Stadium.

Both Lee Frecklington and Jon Taylor grabbed braces before the interval with Amadou Bakayoko pulling a goal back for Walsall shortly after half-time.

But Frecklinton went on to complete his hat-trick in the closing stages in a display that left Whitney furious.

“The performance makes me feel sick in the stomach, angry and bloody determined to put it right,” the boss said.

“For 30 minutes of the game we didn’t compete. We didn’t do the basics you simply have to do.

“We allowed them to really put the game to bed. The first goal is worldy. But the three after that I am not happy about.

“I apologise to the supporters. You can have one of those performances a year. You look back to Rochdale last year.

“As a team we haven’t performed anywhere near the standards we have set over the past few weeks.”

Whitney revealed there will be some harsh words for the players when they report for training tomorrow.

“They can’t shy away from this. They have to come in and be accountable,” he continued.

“We dropped well below our standards as a group. Crosses came in to easy.

"For the second one, their smallest player has ran past three of our players to head it in.

“That comes from a just a bit of desire to keep the ball out the net. If you haven’t got that it doesn’t matter what formation you play, or how technically great you are.

“You need that desire. We didn’t have it. And we have got punished.

“There was as response second half but it was too late. The damage was done.

"I’m not going to make excuses to our fans because we were absolutely dire.

“We all need to have a look at it. We need to sit down and have some honesty. That cannot be allowed to happen.”