Devastated Walsall will 'attack' Chesterfield in 'second bite of the cherry' play-off battle
Walsall manager Mat Sadler could not hide his ‘heart-wrenching’and ‘cruel’ disappointment at missing out on automatic promotion but says they will ‘attack’ the play-off games against Chesterfield.
Despite being in terrible form since January, Walsall, who topped the table for the first-half of the season, were moments away from winning automatic promotion to League One until Bradford City scored a 96th minute winner against Fleetwood Town to pinch third place from them in dramatic style.
Walsall did their bit, winning 1-0 at Crewe, but that was their first victory in 14 games and it proved extremely costly.
A devastated Sadler said: “I don’t think I have got the words right now, I am not going to try and babble stuff. We are all disappointed. It is cruel for us and absolute ecstasy for the Bradford players. That is football, the highs and lows of it. It is tough to take. It is heart-wrenching. We will process it over the next couple of days. Our supporters were unbelievable and if there is any justice we will now go and get the rewards that they deserve.
"I thought we played very well today, I thought we controlled the game, we showed a real strong side to us, could have scored a couple of others, it was a very strong performance.”
Chesterfield experienced very different emotions on the final day, winning 1-0 at Accrington Stanly, to pinch the last play-off spot from Salford City. The Spireites now host Walsall this Sunday at 3.30pm in the first leg of the semi-final before travelling to the Bescot Stadium the following Friday.
Walsall took four points off the Blues in the season, drawing 2-2 at the SMH Group Stadium before winning 3-1 in the reverse fixture in February. But whereas Walsall have only won one of their last 14, Town have only lost one of their last 13, making them the in-form team.
Sadler added: "Now we go into another chance, a second bite of the cherry. Not what we wanted but we will now go and attack this week. We are fighters, not victims. We will keep going. We will dust ourselves down, we will reflect, we will come back together and we will go and attack the next big game.
"It is going to be another tough game in the play-offs. They are exciting games to be a part of. We have had a couple of ding-dongs against them already this season so we know it will be a really tough game. We will give it our best. I am not going to pretend, we are all disappointed right now, but we have got some exciting games to focus on.”