Express & Star

Darrell Clarke: Walsall deserved a point

Darrell Clarke praised his side's never-say-die attitude after a goal from substitute James Hardy saw Walsall pick up a deserved point against Forest Green Rovers.

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In front of 5,205 fans at the Banks's Stadium, the Saddlers did everything but score in a first-half they dominated.

But an error from James Clarke gifted Rovers a penalty just before the break which Joseph Mills converted.

That spot-kick proved to be the visitors only shot on target.

But the visitors dug in after the break and it wasn't until Hardy tapped in late on that Walsall got the point their overall performance more than deserved.

“I thought we started well and then we conceded a sloppy goal which is unheard of really from James Clarke, the amount of years that I have managed him," Darrell Clarke said.

“I asked the boys for a response and throughout the course of the season, when your team-mate makes a mistake like that, it’s about getting him out of the verbal.

“We certainly kept going, changed things around, asked a few questions of them.

"It was an okay performance. I think at times there could have been better decision-making, certainly in the final third.

“I thought we got a deserved equaliser.

“And that’s what I say about mental strength in my teams, making sure that we never know when we are beat. The fans can feed off that sort of energy levels.

“Yeah, there can be one or two moans and groans if we don’t make the right decisions with the ball, when we can go forward and we don’t need to go back, but when they see that (energy) they will get behind the lads and I thought we kept going and got a deserved equaliser."