Mat Sadler frustrated but hails key Walsall attribute after Crewe draw

Crewe took the lead midway into the second half when Omar Bogle latched onto Matus Holicek's threaded pass and slotted his finish past Tommy Simkin.

But Nathan Lowe equalised five minutes from time to salvage a point with his ninth goal of the season. George Hall, who was among a late quartet to enter the action, marked his cameo from the bench with a sublime through ball to collect his second assist of the campaign.

That draw saw Walsall remain in second spot and cut the gap behind league leaders Port Vale to three points after they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Gillingham. 

Sadler felt his side deserved more than just a point but was pleased with the resilience they showed to salvage a draw.

He said: "I don't think so (that a draw was a fair result). I'm glad we came back into it and I think they were looking for that one moment and that one chance.

"They had one shot on target and three shots on goal which about summed it up for me. The way that they played gave us real respect and we had to find a way around to beat that low block.

"Their goal was that sucker punch that they'd been looking for so that was frustrating but in terms of our reaction to going behind. The reaction again to just keep going and never knowing when we are beaten.

"It was a point gained in that sense but we're going to have to come to terms with teams trying to stifle our play at times. We're going to have to find ways to win games and that respect we've been shown is a real positive from our point of view."But I think we showed that real character and desire to make sure we didn't lose the game."

Tensions overboiled at the end of a feisty encounter as Crewe boss Lee Bell and Walsall defender Liam Gordon were cautioned and Saddlers kitman Dave Joyce was shown a red card after a touchline melee in stoppage time.

Lowe also had a goal ruled out for suspected push in the first half and Sadler was frustrated with some of the decisions that went against his side.

"From what I've seen, the long throw that we had should've been a goal which would've unlocked the game when Nathan had a foul given against him," he continued.

"I didn't see any reason for that at the time and I've looked at the video and still can't see a reason.

"I have to be very careful with the words that I use but I think we all saw that the control of the game was lost. There were some bemusing things that went on. I was told 10 minutes of injury time then there was the big scuffle with Liam (Gordon) and the thing in the dugout.

"Then we had just 11 minutes of injury time when It should've been at least 15 but that was just an isolated incident that happened within it. I thought there were loads where the control was lost."