Matt Taylor: Walsall need to change mindset

The Saddlers' infuriating knack of falling short against struggling sides continued on a deeply disappointing afternoon at the Lamex Stadium.

Rollin Menayese scored an own goal after just 25 seconds and Taylor's lot failed to recover, handing the Boro a big win in their quest for League Two survival.

When asked why they tend to come undone against teams near the bottom, Taylor said: "The only thing I can say is that it must be a mindset for the players, and for us.

"That's what we've been speaking about on the side. Our mindset needs to be more positive.

"One mistake, when you make one, the next action must be positive.

"But we were a bit safe and not as confident as we have been.

"I'm really disappointed and angry with the performance we got, because I know we're better than that. The errors we made were avoidable.

"When you concede goals like we did, it's always going to be really difficult.

"Why are we inconsistent? It must be a mindset.

"So, it's up to me and the staff to sit down and find out why this fantastic, talented and exceptional group of players is too up and down for my liking – and for the ability they have."

Stevenage had not won for six games going into the encounter, and failed to score in five hours of football.

But they were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes thanks to Menayese's own goal and a header from Chris Lines.

Brendan Kiernan responded in the second half for Walsall as they pushed for an equaliser, but Jake Taylor would have had the final say for the hosts in stoppage time.

"What the fans saw was too big of a disparity between the first half and the second," said Taylor.

"When you're 2-0 down after making two errors, you've always got an uphill battle on your hands.

"You can't continue to do that. We did it against Newport – we weren't good enough for large periods.

"The difference between our first-half performance and second-half performance was too big.

"You can't come out and perform like we did in the second half, having produced the performance we did in the first half.

"I thought we would come here and put in a really good performance.

"But when you start a game in the way we did, confidence wanes.

"We didn't look confident. In the second half, it almost flipped 360 and we looked far better."

Taylor added: "It's not good enough. It's too inconsistent.

"I can't make excuses for the mistakes we made. The players understand it's not acceptable.

"It makes me, all the supporters and the staff angry."