How Walsall's 2016 play-off collapse marked the end of an era

Dean Smith had carefully assembled a squad capable of fighting at the top end of the table. His departure just three months into the season was a blow, but Walsall combatted a managerial merry-go-round to stay in the hunt. 

The final day ended in heartache, with a 5-0 crushing of local rivals Port Vale still not quite enough to achieve automatic promotion. 

Instead, Walsall dropped into the play-offs, but entered their semi-final tie against Barnsley with a spring in their step. 

"We only do it one way. We are an attacking team but we do it from a defensive base," manager Jon Whitney said beforehand. 

"We are not going to go to Barnsley and shut up shop." 

Perhaps that would've been advisable once Adam Hamill struck the first of three hammer blows before the break. 

After that, Walsall completed fell apart, conceding twice in quick succession from Tykes frontman Sam Winnall. 

'A crushing defeat. Three inexplicably poor goals conceded and the application of Walsall's players again called into question', Joe Masi wrote in the Express & Star afterwards. 

It was a bleak but accurate summary. "What a contrast from Port Vale in just a few days," Whitney blasted. 

"Sometimes in life you get smacked in the teeth and we have just been smacked in the teeth by Barnsley. 

"You can either hide away and give up for the summer, or you can come and show me and our fans some pride on Thursday. 

"If you want to get to Wembley in the play-offs, you have to fight. Barnsley fought better than us. 3-0 makes it a huge hill to climb but I've climbed hills before." 

Whitney might have finished his post-match address on an optimistic note, but there was to be no miraculous comeback in the second leg. 

A sorry Saddlers shipped three more goals at Bescot, with Jordan Cook's 85-minute strike merely serving as a footnote in a 6-1 aggregate defeat over two legs. 

'Heartbreak as the dream dies' was Masi's take but worse was set to follow...

"We've got to try and go again. That's all we can do," Whitney, still yet to be handed the reins on a full-time basis, acknowledged.

"Bear in mind, this season was five years in the process. It doesn't just come. We have to fight for it but we have to be realistic in terms of what we can achieve, and we will know that from the players we keep and the players we bring in." 

What followed was a mass summer exodus. Romaine Sawyers and Rico Henry reunited with Smith at Brentford, Tom Bradshaw joined Barnsley and Paul Downing left for MK Dons. 

Jason Demetriou, Anthony Forde, Milan Lalkovic, Sam Mantom, Andy Taylor and Cook also headed for the exit door as the squad was virtually decimated in the space of a few weeks. 

Walsall had come so close, yet so far, and they tumbled dramatically down the table over the course of the next three seasons, before eventually succumbing to relegation in 2019. 

Six long years in League Two have followed, but Mat Sadler will be hoping he can end that drought, in what feels like last chance saloon for the Walsall boss.