Jon Whitney bemoaned his side’s naivety after the Saddlers’ 3-1 defeat at promotion-chasing Blackburn.
A Danny Graham double put Rovers in control, but a well-taken Joe Edwards strike gave Walsall hope before half-time.
Any hopes of a comeback were effectively ended two minutes after the restart as Bradley Dack added a third – and Whitney was disappointed with his team’s overall showing.
“Blackburn are a really strong team in this league but it’s the naivety of the first ten minutes that was disappointing,” said Whitney.
“We knew we had to stretch them but we were looking to play when it wasn’t on to play – we needed to play into space which is what we’ve worked on.
“I thought we were lucky to go in at 2-1 at half-time.
“Joe Edwards scored and did really well – he was excellent.
"But if you’ve only got two or three of your players performing, then you’re not going to come to Blackburn and get a result.
“You can accept getting beat by the better team but we’re disappointed with the naivety of giving them their two goals from two mistakes.
“That gave us a mountain to climb and you can’t expect to come back from that.”
With the January transfer window shutting tomorrow, Whitney remains hopeful of adding to his squad.
“We’ve still got a day and we need to try to bring some bodies in,” the boss added.
“We’re hopeful on a permanent signing but we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”