Express & Star

Brian Dutton: 'Blunt' Walsall made to pay after poor second-half

Brian Dutton has bemoaned his ‘blunt’ Walsall side for a poor second half performance in their 2-0 home loss to Morecambe.

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The Saddlers dominated large parts of the first half but failed to threaten in the opposition box.

A Dan Scarr mistake allowed the visitors to snatch a lead before they then controlled the second half and added a second - and Dutton was disappointed with his side’s ‘toothless’ showing.

“That was the fixture that encapsulated my tenure at Walsall,” he said.

“It was quite pretty between both boxes, some nice stuff and good possession, but there were individual errors defensively and offensively it was good until the final third.

“We looked a little bit blunt and lacked that cutting edge. That was it in a nutshell for me.

“The game is about being good in both boxes and today we weren’t. We were poor defensively and blunt offensively.

“I thought the first half was positive until the last kick of the game when their lad has gone through off the back of some poor defending.

“We were on the front foot and ascendency. We were creating some opportunities, albeit not clear-cut ones.

“On the whole it was a positive first half but in the second half it dissipated a little bit.

“It was a little bit toothless, in my opinion.”