Dean Keates felt his side were let down by the final ball as the Saddlers slipped to a 2-1 defeat at promotion-chasing Sunderland.
Josh Gordon’s improvised finish gave the visitors an early lead but goals from Lee Cattermole and Will Grigg gave the Black Cats all three points.
“It was relief for them at the final whistle,” said Keates.
“We scored a really good goal, we looked bright and countered well in the first half.
“We looked sharp. They blocked a couple of our shots.
“We are disappointed, we have come to Sunderland, away from home, and we have taken the game to them.
“Give credit to their player - he’s pulled a great block off from Joe [Edwards]. We got into good areas in the first half.
“We are a little bit more disappointed with the second half. We got into some good areas but the final ball into the box wasn’t good enough.
“We gambled in the last 10 minutes. We left Scarrie [Dan Scarr] up there. We had Cooky [Andy Cook] on the pitch, we brought Remi [Aramide Oteh] on.
“We tried to put their backs to the walls but the final ball into the box wasn’t good enough.
“We didn’t really create an opportunity for the forward players to score a goal.”