Mat Sadler "speechless" after Walsall miss out on automatic promotion

George Hall scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for the Saddlers over local rivals Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road. 

Walsall were on the cusp of automatic promotion with the final whistle poised when news broke of events at Valley Parade. 

It was the news Walsall fans had been dreading, as Bradford City pipped them to the post in the most dramatic of styles with a late winner against Fleetwood Town.

Sadler was left speechless at the final whistle. 

"No [I can't put it into words]," a sombre Sadler said. "My ears were pricked to the crowd the whole game. There only needed to be one moment and you know over there that they'd be throwing the kitchen sink at it. 

"What can I say? I don't have the right words for it now. I thought the supporters were unbelievable today from minute one to the very end. 

"The players were fantastic today. We showed real resilience and a real calmness towards the situation which was in front of us. 

"Disappointing that we didn't see the job out today. We knew the situation before we went into it but now we need to dust ourselves off and come out fighting again."

Walsall ended their 13-match winless run with their first maximum points since beating relegated Morecambe 2-0 in Lancashire on February 22. 

Sadler was pleased with the performance and hopes they can take that confidence into their two-legged semi-final tie against Chesterfield in the play-offs.

"I thought we played really well. Our 10s [Hall and Jamie Jellis] were really influential, our wing-back did very well too. 

"There were lots of positive signs. Mostly, the control we showed in difficult circumstances was a real positive for us. 

"Now we have to take that positivity, move on and use that momentum from the win going into the play-offs."

Sadler was also proactive with his bench, bringing on Jamille Matt for an ineffective Levi Amantchi at half-time, before withdrawing a tiring Alfie Chang and Hall during the closing stages. 

"It was [important to be proactive from the bench]. We knew we had good options, obviously I went with a very attacking bench today knowing that at certain times we might need to go for it," he added.

"In the end, we didn't use Flash [Josh Gordon] or Danny [Johnson]. We wanted to continue and keep getting legs on the pitch. 

"We've still got guys like Changy and George who are not quite ready for 90 minutes yet."

Walsall travel to Chesterfield for the first leg on Sunday, May 11, before welcoming them to Bescot for the second leg on Friday, May 16.