Michael Flynn calls on Walsall to 'wise up' after Salford defeat

The Saddlers lost the game 1-0 to a Matt Smith header after just five minutes which went in off a post.

Flynn felt his defenders should have cut the cross by Ibou Touray out and admitted after the game he had words with his players.

He said: “I think we lost it in the first 10 minutes when we got off to a terrible start and seemed to be still on the bus.

“I don’t know why because we did the warm up, we saw what the pitch was like so it’s not like we didn’t know what we were in for.

“People used to go on about the Newport pitch but that was like playing on a beach.

“But again, you see it before the game, get to walk on it and you try to adapt your game accordingly, which we didn’t seem to do for large parts of it.

“For the first half-an-hour, they handled it better and you can’t give good teams like that a head start. I felt we should have cut out the cross to Matt Smith, who was always going to be a threat, and once you go one down that early away from home you are always going to be up against it.

“We played better in the second half and I think we were finishing the better team but, overall, our decision making wasn’t good enough and it is inexcusable.

“On a pitch like that all you need to do is play the percentage, don’t over complicate it, take a touch and put it in the box, win the second balls. And we didn’t do that.

“There were some good performances from the likes of Jacob Maddox, who was all over the place, and Conor Wilkinson, who got stronger as the game went on I thought.

“It was good for Conor to get a a start so there were definitely some plus points but overall the feeling was disappointment and not just at the result.”

Flynn was pleased to have got the signing of Matty Stevens finalised before the transfer deadline, saying he had been working hard with Walsall’s owners and the player’s agent to get the deal across the line.

He said: “I have said before we will need increased numbers to cope with the busy schedule coming up and this is one I and others have been working hard to bring about – it will increase competition for places as well.”

Meanwhile, midfielder Brendan Kiernan has left Walsall to join Hartlepool United.

The Saddlers cancelled his contract yesterday to allow him to move to Victoria Park.

Kiernan, aged 30, played 41 times for the Saddlers, scoring six times in all competitions and spent the first half of this season on loan at Grimsby Town.