Saddlers Head Coach Matt Taylor admitted that he was proud of his team following their 1-0 win over local rivals Port Vale on Tuesday evening.
A single goal from a returning Brendan Kiernan in the first half was enough to secure Taylor’s side their fourth straight win on the road in all competitions as they also kept their third consecutive clean sheet away from home.
And as well as being proud of his team, Taylor highlighted the fact that on the evening, he thought his team set the standard from the first whistle with ‘their running, their effort and their desire.’
“I’m really pleased and proud of the team,” said Taylor.
“I thought tonight what we did was we found a way to win the game. It was always going to be a difficult fixture but the team tonight were so physically dominant in the way that they picked up the balls and in their running, their effort and their desire.
“I asked them for that and to a man, each one of them gave me that so it gives you a platform, it gives you something to work towards then improving in terms of on the ball. I thought every player tonight who got onto the pitch really made a big contribution.
“I know they go down to 10 men and you probably expect us to come out and to really take the game to them.
“I thought we could have used the ball better in some situations but in the first half we were so dominant in the game and I went in at half time probably slightly disappointed that we were only 1-0 up.
“Having said that, Saturday was a clean sheet, tonight is a clean sheet and that is a massive, massive positive for the football club.
“The players did the ugly side of the game really well this evening and they completed our non-negotiables as a football club.
“I will accept, I will go with and I have always said it that they will make mistakes on the ball but what they did tonight was they trod on the opposition physically and I think when you have got that in a group of men that when they take to the football pitch, you have got a chance of winning the game.
“Physically, I just thought we were extremely, extremely strong tonight. Yes we could have moved the ball better and yes we probably should have scored more than one goal but one goal was enough tonight because I thought the back four were exceptional.”