Goalscorer pleased with his side's performance...
ATTACKING midfielder Romaine Sawyers believes there were plenty of positives to take from the Saddlers’ second-half performance in the 1-1 draw at Peterborough.The in-form 23-year-old fired Walsall ahead in the 53rd minute with a thunderous long-range strike – his fifth goal of a productive season.
But Peterborough, who had Jermaine Anderson sent off for throwing a water bottle into the crowd, equalised when substitute Michael Bostwick won and then converted a controversial late penalty.
Dean Smith’s men remain in second place in League One – a victory would have taken us top.
Despite the result, Sawyers was pleased with his team’s display.
“We’ve got to look at the positives,” he said.
“In the first half we didn’t start too well but, in the second half, we really grew into the game.
“We took the lead and the sending off should have worked in our favour.
“But they reacted well, sprung into another gear, and won the penalty.
“We still nearly went on to win the game; Sam Mantom hit the bar and Milan Lakovic had one tipped wide.
"We’re a bit disappointed with the result but the positives are that we’re creating chances and looking like scoring goals.
"Peterborough are a decent side – they beat Oldham 5-1 last week – so it was a good positive performance away from home."
Next up on Wednesday evening is the much-anticipated visit of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in the Capital One Cup third round.
Confidence is high among the Walsall ranks and Sawyers admits the whole squad are looking forward to testing themselves against the Premier League champions.
“We can show our excitement now,” said Sawyers.
“We’ve had league games since the draw was made, but now we can focus on Chelsea.
“We’re the underdogs but we’ll try to show the belief that we have in the camp.
“If we cause an upset, it would be a massive boost for everyone at the club.
“If we don’t, but it’s a good performance, then we’ll still take positives from the game.
“But we’ve got to believe that it can happen.”