Mat Sadler ‘not surprised’ by Walsall’s stellar response

But the Saddlers have since gone on to collect eight points from a possible 12 (winning two, drawing two) to climb into second spot in League Two and to within four points of the league summit.

And Sadler has been pleased by the character that his side has shown in the wake of that humbling defeat to maintain their strong start to the campaign.

Boss Sadler said: “The lads are unbelievable but we believe in ourselves. That’s the biggest thing and we should have that belief. We know that we’re a good team and we want to show that. The Fleetwood game in isolation was still a game that we were desperate to try and win.

“We went after it and fell short that day but we’ll continue to go after wins, be on the front foot in the way that we defend and be relentless in the way that we want to attack.

“It doesn’t surprise me because I know what we’ve got and the lads really believe in themselves. I’m not surprised but it doesn’t stop.

“You can see the legs in our team and credit to Accrington, but I think they were holding on a little bit at the end there.

“The league dictates and demands that you have to do it in all different ways and today (at Accrington) was another example of that off the back of a really good week.”

Tommy Simkin kept his sixth clean sheet of the season between the sticks in Walsall’s goalless draw against Accrington Stanley at the Wham Stadium on Saturday.

The Saddlers have conceded the joint-fewest goals (five) in the division away from home and have registered three clean sheets on their travels in League Two compared to just their solitary shut-out during the previous campaign.

Overall, they’ve conceded an average of 0.7 goals per game on the road which is a significant improvement on the 2.13 goals leaked per 90 last term.

And Sadler felt the defensive contributions of wing-backs Connor Barrett and Liam Gordon shouldn’t be overlooked after the disciplined performance that the pair produced in Lancashire.

“Our backline was fantastic in trying circumstances. They defended for their lives when they needed to do that,” he continued. “Dave (Okagbue), Harry (Williams) and Taylor (Allen) were all tremendous as well as Liam (Gordon) and Connor (Barrett) because we ask a lot of them attacking wise.

“But on days like today when they’re going to have to grit their teeth and head everything and kick everything.

“Sometimes that can be overlooked in terms of how significant the input of what they do is. I was very pleased and proud of that backline and the work that the lads did in front of it.

“That was a proper blood and thunder League Two game. To come away with the performance that we did, we all go home pleased but not satisfied.

“Coming away disappointed not to have won today is a really positive thing but if you can’t win then you don’t lose. So to take a point, as much as you want to win every game, I thought that was a proper team performance.”