Walsall duo Harrison Burke and Daniel Kanu to be assessed ahead of Crawley trip

Striker Kanu was also struggling with a calf problem when he was replaced later in the second half. 

Neither of them have trained so far this week, but Sadler will be assessing the pair leading up to the weekend.

"We're nursing Harrison through, so we'll see for the weekend," Sadler said.

"Not a massively clear picture on that one at the moment. We'll see how the next three or four days go with him. 

"It's the same case with Daniel Kanu. We'll have to see how that looks for the weekend and whether that comes too soon. 

"We'll probably know more on Thursday. Harrison got a bang on his medial on Saturday, Daniel just felt his calf. 

"We haven't done anything with them yesterday. Thursday will be an important one to see where we're out with that."

Vincent Harper will be absent in Crawley after receiving an international call-up for Kenya. 

Walsall experimented with Jid Okeke and Courtney Clarke on either side at wing-back during their 1-0 defeat against Northampton Town in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday. 

And Sadler is confident that he has strong options to fill the void in the absence of Harper.

"That's why we flipped them around within the game. It gave us some things to think about for the weekend," he added.

"We've got Jid Okeke and Courtney Clarke. Then Charlie Lakin can play out there as well. 

"So we've got some good options to make a decision with."

Walsall were also able to hand home debuts to academy scholars Stan Straw and McLloyd Oben from the bench, while Ronan Maher also played the final 25 minutes at left wing-back. 

Sadler has previously earmarked this competition as a prime platform to provide young players with opportunities and was pleased with the blend that he was able to strike against Northampton. 

Kamarai Swyer scored the only goal in the 88th-minute to provide Northampton with a three-point cushion at the top of Group K, leaving the Saddlers in second.

"We experimented in the first game and we've taken the decision as a football club to make sure that we target a certain amount of minutes for our scholars within this competition," he continued.

"It's important that we've done that. There's not many opportunities within a season to do that but we do see this competition as a chance to do that. 

"Amongst making sure that the guys get the minutes they need. We've got that blend right tonight, which at times might come with an element of risk towards the result. 

"I get that, but the long-term picture is to see this as a real positive to give people chances that wouldn't have been able to previously."