Mat Sadler hails Walsall hero Aaron Pressley as ‘not a normal striker’ after stirring comeback win
Mat Sadler hailed Walsall hero Aaron Pressley as “not a normal big man” after his brace sealed a stirring comeback win over Bristol Rovers.
The Scotsman struck twice in the second half as the Saddlers showed resilience and determination to fight back, extending their unbeaten League Two run to seven games.
Victory ensured Walsall remained top of the table, and boss Sadler was full of praise for 23-year-old Pressley, who took his chances with ruthless composure.
He said: “Aaron works his socks off for the team, he is not a normal big man, I would say.
“He is as fit as a butchers dog, he is always doing extras, he runs further than most, and he is a hell of a finisher as well.
“We just need to keep trying to put him in those positions because he is probably his worst enemy at most times because he does such amazing work for the team
“We want to make sure we keep putting him in goalscoring positions, and he took his goals well.”
Walsall had trailed at the break after a frustrating first half in which they were forced to soak up long spells of Bristol pressure.
Fabrizio Cavegn put Darrell Clarke’s side ahead after 27 minutes, but inspired substitutions after half-time turned the tide.
The Saddlers pressed relentlessly and were rewarded with two composed finishes from Pressley to complete the turnaround.
“The finishers made a massive difference,” added Sadler. “It was an enjoyable win because of how hard we were made to work.
“To come back into it, we haven’t come back from a closing position this season to win, that was really pleasing.
“It would have been easy to panic. But, when you are buoyed by the support behind that goal, it is a pretty powerful thing.”
The Walsall boss also admitted that he had not prepared for Rovers’ surprise set-up.
“All week watching Darrell’s teams, he is amazing at seeing what the game looks like and changing it,” he continued.
“When you try to prepare, that means you don’t know what it is going to look like.
“I 100 per cent did not prepare for them to go 4-4-2 with Bryant Bilongo as the wide man, as they hadn’t done that before.
“Credit it to them, they did a good job in trying to play the game that they wanted and it took us 45 minutes to work it out. We were desperate to get in at half-time.
“There were a couple of personnel changes at half-time, nothing against the guys that came off, we just weren’t playing the way that we needed to against that shape.
“The fresh legs that we brought on really contributed to getting us back in the ascendancy.”
