Walsall analysis: Saddlers on the brink of a catastrophic collapse

No team had ever amassed more points than the Saddlers' tally of 58 after 25 games since the league was rebranded in 2004.

They had also gone 16 games without defeat and capped that remarkable run with a club record nine-match winning streak in January. 

It seemed a matter of when rather than if Walsall would finally end their six-year stay in the EFL's basement division. 

But instead, Accrington Stanley might very well have put the penultimate nail in their faltering promotion bid. 

13 games without a win and two wins from 20 games is relegation form. It would be hard to see how Sadler could've survived such a wretched run of form had it happened earlier in the campaign. 

So it was perhaps not surprising that there were chants of 'Sadler out' across Bescot at the final whistle. 

After all, only four teams have accumulated fewer points than the Saddlers' lowly tally of 25 since the turn of the year. Even relegated Carlisle United and Morecambe (both six) have won more games than Walsall (five) in 2025, with only Gillingham winning fewer (four). 

Walsall have one game left to salvage something but ultimately destiny isn't in their hands. It now feels as if they're destined to fall into the play-off lottery and we all fear how that could end.