Walsall v Cheltenham: Mat Sadler focussed on finish rather than start
Mat Sadler is willing to embrace his latest selection headache ahead of Walsall’s home fixture against Cheltenham Town tomorrow afternoon.
The Walsall boss made eight changes as Walsall came from two goals behind to beat League One outfit Huddersfield Town at Bescot on Tuesday night.
Those called upon from the bench also made an impact in Walsall’s stunning comeback, which booked their place in the Carabao Cup third round for the first time since 2015.
Attention will now return to League Two but Sadler is excited by the array of options at his disposal.
“It’s brilliant, isn’t it?” Sadler responded. “Games last for 90 to 100 minutes and I call them starters and finishers.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that you might not start the game. It means it might not be your turn to start the game but they will be there ready to finish the job off.
“The beauty of when we make changes and everyone plays as well as they did on Tuesday is that they continue to show me what they can do.
“If you’ve not started then be ready to come on and affect the game. Hopefully we can keep doing that.”
Walsall remain unbeaten in all competitions on home soil but will be looking to avoid back-to-back defeats in the league following last weekend’s 1-0 loss at Tranmere Rovers.
Nevertheless, Walsall have enjoyed a promising start to the campaign and Sadler believes that replicating recent performance levels will give them the best possible chance of consistently competing in games.
The Walsall boss continued: “We just want to compete in every game we play. I thought we were great on Tuesday night and I was really pleased with how we played last Saturday.
“We didn’t get the rewards on that day. We’ll win games, we’ll lose games and we’ll draw games.
“But we’ve got to try and do everything we can to play the way that we want to play, give the supporters a team that they want to see and that they want to get behind.
“I thought the reaction from the supporters after the Tranmere game was incredible. The way they got behind the team because it’s not easy travelling up and down the country.
“I’ll never take that for granted so we want to give everything we can to reward everyone who supports us.”
While Sadler ponders his options ahead of the weekend, Priestley Farquharson won’t be among those involved when Cheltenham visit the West Midlands.
The defender limped off with a thigh injury at Prenton Park last week and is due to have a scan later today. Sadler is then expected to issue an update on his fitness after the game tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Donervon Daniels (knee); Brandon Comley (leg) and Danny Johnson (viral infection) remain unavailable.
