Walsall Head Coach Matt Taylor was pleased to see his side end October on a high and complete an unbeaten month.
Tyrese Shade’s free-kick was enough to see the Saddlers leave Gander Green Lane with all three points against Sutton United and stretch their unbeaten run to seven matches in all competitions.
Taylor was delighted to see his team withstand late pressure from the hosts to come away with a victory which ensured they ended a progressive October unbeaten.
“It’s been, I would call, a bit of a moving month for us,” Taylor said.
“First and foremost, our league position but secondly the players mindsets.
“I’ve said it previously, I think we’re a good team and we’ve been threatening that. Hopefully, the players have more belief in themselves and belief in the process with the way that we play because it works.
“The proof is in the pudding, we’re now on 20 points in the league this season so in the last five games we’ve picked up 11 points so we’re in a good spot at the moment but it’s imperative that we don’t think that we’ve cracked it and we’ve made it because we haven’t, we’re only just over a quarter of the way through the season.
“There’s going to be some extremely tough periods coming up, I understand that but what I asked the players for was to end the month well and we’ve done that.
“I’m really pleased that the players have managed to see the game out. If there’s something we probably haven’t been good enough at in the last three or four weeks, that’s holding on at times when we’re leading in games so I’m really pleased that the players have come here and it’s a tough place to come to.
“They are extremely good at what they do and we dealt with that on the whole very well, a couple of hairy moments towards the end of the game but we were proactive with the substitutions that we made to make sure that we saw the game out and I’m extremely happy that we got three points.”
The Saddlers earned victory on Saturday without Conor Wilkinson who was missing from the matchday 18 and Taylor explained why the striker was absent.
“We have a work day on Tuesday and he unfortunately pulled his calf but that’s what you have a squad for,” he revealed.
“Disappointed for Conor because I’m sure he would have featured but what that does is give other players the opportunity to come into the team and perform.
“Obviously, Conor is a miss because of the quality he brings us but the players that were here, I’m extremely pleased they managed to get three points for the fans that travelled.”
Full interview: