Jon Whitney felt there were positives to take from the Saddlers’ Carabao Cup first-round defeat at Sheffield United.
Amadou Bakayoko slotted Walsall into a deserved half-time lead, but a Kory Roberts own goal and quick-fire strikes from Nathan Thomas and Daniel Lafferty turned the match on its head.
Erhun Oztumer’s last-minute penalty gave the visitors hope, but it proved too little too late as the Blades held on to reach round two.
“The lads felt a bit of an injustice as for 75 minutes we were the better team,” said Whitney afterwards. “We played some really good football and forced them into a change of formation.
"But they scored three goals and that's what they can do to you and that's what Ched Evans can do - and he's done it to us before, for Chesterfield.
“I am proud about the first 75 minutes but sometimes individual decisions and game management, that comes with experience. We have not got a lot of experience in the team but that comes from game to game.
“I thought Kory was really unlucky – he couldn’t do anything about it. It was a good strike and Gilly has just palmed it onto him.
“There was a deflection as well for their third one.
“It was disappointing to lose but there were a lot of positives to take. What we can’t do is sit down and feel sorry for ourselves because we only have a couple of days to prepare for a big game.
“We have put a bit of pressure on ourselves because we don’t want to make it three defeats out of three.”