Mat Sadler delighted with 'incredible' Walsall performance

"It was an incredible team performance. I set-up in a certain way and they changed the way they were going to do things, which was different to what I thought they were going to do," Sadler said.

"So, we had to quickly readjust to that. The lads quickly took that into action and we've spoken about the forwards, but I thought my defenders were incredible today.

"The same goes to my goalkeeper but the work that my midfield three put in was great. Isaac in possession, especially in the second half, drove the team up the pitch.

"He scares players. People don't think he's quick but he doesn't half cover the ground. Oisin out of possession was monumental.

"Once he gets to grips with his awareness in the middle of the pitch, which you saw when we were on the counter-attack and the lad comes and nips inside. That's just experience of playing in the position and he'll grow and develop into that.

"Ryan was great too. Firstly, at times he controlled the tempo for us, and secondly, I really liked the clip that he got booked for in the first half. That was a proper team decision because sometimes it's something you have to do."

Freddie Draper set-up Danny Johnson for the opening goal inside 24 minutes, before Aramide Oteh and Jamille Matt replaced the pair for the final 30 minutes of the second half.

Oteh then doubled Walsall's advantage to score his first goal since returning to the club. The Saddlers then held on after Ryan Rydel pulled one back in second half stoppage time.

Sadler was impressed by the performance of all four centre-forwards, and believes the way his team managed key moments in the game proved decisive.

"Freddie was a real handful. We'll see what we get from him as he gets fitter, more match sharp and he goes deeper into games. So we'll see even more of an impact from him and I thought he was great," he observed.

"Danny with his finish. He's got ice in his veins in those situations. I don't think anyone in the stadium thought it was going to go any other way. He kind of creates time for himself, which very few do at the level.

"I felt it was the right time to bring the two centre-forwards off [Johnson and Draper] after the first 10-15 minutes of the second half. We then imposed ourselves for the next 10 minutes after the changes and the goal came at a good time for us to knock the stuffing out of them a little bit.

"But they are a good team, they are going to have chances and they are going to create openings. When those key magic moments came we stood up to them, and took ours and prevented theirs."

Over 6,000 packed into Bescot for the first home game of the season and Sadler also gave credit to the supporters for helping pull his side over line.

"The environment that the fans created was a proper environment for football. A proper home crowd desperate to see us through," he added.

"We're going to need them in moment like that when we played 12 minutes of injury time in the second half, which is mental.

"The crowd pulled us through in those tough moments and it was a real testament to everyone connected with Walsall Football Club."

Priestley Farquharson was unavailable due to a groin injury but is likely to return for the trip to Wrexham on Tuesday night.

Tom Knowles was also missing due to injury although he is expected to be missing for the next two weeks. Brandon Comley was absent with an ankle injury and is set to undergo a scan.

"Coms had been nursing an ankle injury for quite sometime and in the Blackburn game it just became unmanagable," he revealed.

"We've got a scan on Coms to see what the situation is with him. So nothing to report on that at the moment but once there is we'll obviously let you know."