Mat Sadler hails Walsall's "effectiveness" in both boxes in Shrewsbury win

Priestley Farquharson bagged a brace in either half, after Iwan Morgan had got Shrewsbury back on level terms with a free-kick on the stroke of half-time. 

Defender Farquharson extended his season tally to five with his third goal in two games, as Walsall ended a dismal seven-match winless run.

Sadler had been under scrutinising pressure heading to Shropshire, but felt Walsall were much more effective in the key areas, as they registered their first win since January 17.

'We gave ourselves a platform'

"That's what we spoke about today, giving ourselves a platform to play from," Sadler said. 

"Because we know again, I watched the game against Notts County and they couldn't break Shrewsbury down and the Barnet game was the same. 

"Everyone at Shrewsbury knows their jobs and I didn't want it to be a similar game against us. 

"I wanted to play in the most effective half of the pitch, which is what we did today. We won and picked up countless second balls and gave ourselves a platform to win the game from."

Over 1,600 Walsall supporters made the short trip to Croud Meadow in a sell-out away end.

Walsall responded to the passionate crowd with a spirited performance and put bodies on the line to clinch maximum points. 

Evan Weir made his return after missing the past two games and played a key role in both goals. 

Yet Walsall's heads could've easily dropped after Morgan equalised with the final kick of the first half. 

Sadler hails second half response

Instead, they started the second half on the front-foot and deservedly retook the lead just past the hour. 

And Sadler was proud of the resilience and the response that his team showed to reassert their authority in the second half.

"You come here and the supporters were always going to be right behind them because they've been on a really strong run," he added.

"We knew it was going to be a real second-ball game and that would maybe turn into a contest of set pieces.

"That's exactly what it was, but we were resilient when we needed to be and played good football when we needed to.

"I thought we were very combative in what we did. We could've easily felt sorry for ourselves after they scored before half-time in what was a real sucker punch but I was very pleased with the reaction."

Shrewsbury were reduced to 10-men in the dying stages when Josh Ruffels was shown a straight red card for his tackle on Jamie Jellis. 

Walsall moved to within one-point of the play-offs prior to the 3pm kick-offs and climbed two places into eighth.