Delighted Jon Whitney praises Walsall team performance

A spectacular 35-yard strike from Erhun Oztumer opened the scoring at the Kingsmeadow Stadium before Amadou Bakayoko doubled the Saddlers advantage on the half-hour.

Wimbledon hit-back through Lyle Taylor and while the Dons went on to enjoy lots of possession in and around the Saddlers box, Whitney’s men defended superbly to register back-to-back wins in League One for the first time this season.

“It was an excellent team performance,” the boss said.

“An away performance has to have a bit of quality. We had that with Erhun’s goal.

"Then the second goal is a very good team goal.

“And then we weathered the storm well. We reacted to their goal well. We didn’t panic too much.

“Then second half, they are going to have a period. But I thought we put bodies on the line when we needed to.

"And then I thought we controlled it and kept it well when we needed to.

“We were a threat on the counter and I thought we were a bit unlucky not to knick one of them.

“And then we saw out the last 15 minute period without them creating a real chance. We limited them to shots from distance.

“It was a really mature performance from a young team, a real team performance.”

Walsall have now put in four strong performances since they crashed out of the FA Cup at Newport County earlier this month.

And Whitney is delighted with the response his team has shown since that loss.

“Newport hurt us,” he added.

“All you can do is react and respond and I think we have done that.

“There is an enjoyment in this group of players that is growing.

They are enjoying working together both physically and mentally.”