Walsall boss Dean Keates labels his side's 4-0 defeat 'embarrassing'

On a horrible afternoon at Valley Parade that saw temperatures plummet below zero, a David Ball brace as well as strikes from Paul Caddis and Eion Doyle saw the Saddlers fall to their heaviest defeat of the season.

Keates’ side fell behind against the run of play in the first-half when Caddis fired in from 12-yards.

But they should have gone into the break ahead with Andy Cook missing two glorious chances.

After the interval though, the Saddlers fell apart with a dreadful second-half performance seeing them thrashed by a Bradford side who started the day bottom of League One.

“I can’t defend that performance,” Keates said.

“The second-half in particular was nowhere near good enough. I can only apologise to the fans.

“Second-half, that was an embarrassment and it will not be tolerated at the football club.

“The players need to look at themselves. First-half, we conceded a bad goal if I’m honest - “it’s come from our phase of play. On the turnover we need to do better.

“But we created chances. We should have had a couple of goals in the first-half. But second-half, I can’t defend that. The players need to look at themselves and grow up.”

As well as being bitterly cold, the game was played in tough conditions with the wind and rain lashing down.

And Keates admitted Bradford handled the weather better than his side.

“They dealt with it better than us,” he continued.

“That is something we spoke it about. We tried to play football.

“But ultimately, no disrespect to Bradford, but we knew how we were going to be put under pressure.

“They were going to come forward and compete for second balls. I’ve seen it all through the week, we have looked at the clips.

“The conditions today, maybe we should have been a bit more direct because every time it went up Cookie won it.

“We still tried up play and we put ourselves under pressure. We caused it ourselves. Ultimately that is what have cost us.”

Keates revealed Cook apologised to his team mate after the game for the chances he missed.

“That is his job - he held his hands up and said it’s a different game if he takes his two chances,” the manager said.

“But the second half performance, overall, is nowhere near good enough.

“He (Cook) got on the end of one in the second half and the keeper has made a good save.

“But ultimately, they are bread and butter chances for Andy Cook. And we should have gone in at half-time, as a minimum 2-1 up.”

Keates admitted he felt sorry for goalkeeper Liam Roberts who had no chance with the four goals.

“I do feel sorry for him, he has picked the ball out the net in the first-half and he hasn’t really had a save to make,” he added.

“Second-half he’s had one or two mandatory saves that he normally makes. But nobody is scoring great goals against us, we are accountable for all four goals.”