Walsall boss Darrell Clarke: Cameron Norman omission a mistake

The right-back has been in impressive form in recent weeks after replacing the injured Shay Facey.

Norman came on in the loss but again impressed and Clarke admitted Norman should have got the nod ahead of James Clarke – while also revealing that Cameron Pring missed out due to illness.

“Yeah, Cam Norman did excellent," he said.

“We were disappointed to lose Pringy (Cameron Pring) before the game as well.

“He might have mumps, he’s been ill.

“In the full-back area Cam (Norman) has played a few games recently and in hindsight he probably (should have) started the game.

“I thought my full-backs were poor first half.

“We wanted a solid base but never really got anything going.

“We got a bit more going second half but the second goal kills us."

After going into half-time 1-0 down due to a Max Sheaf strike, the Saddlers came out in the second half and conceded within three minutes with Conor Thomas scoring.

And Clarke believes that the second goal 'killed' his side.

“We had some harsh words at half-time, so we wanted that reaction, and then you give a sloppy goal away in the second half," he added.

“We were always going to give Cheltenham different problems to think about with tactical changes to try and get back into the game.

“But we were sloppy.

“Unlike our previous away performances, we were giving cheap goals away.

“You can’t do that against a good team."

Meanwhile, midfielder Liam Kinsella was disappointed to see the side drop below the 'standards' they have set in recent weeks.

“We’ve set our standards and it wasn’t good enough from the lads," he said.

“We know that, we’ve gone through it after the game.

“We just have to put it to bed now and put it right next week.

“The goals we gave away were sloppy, we looked like what we were back in October when we were losing games.

"We can't do that, we've set our standards in the last nine, 10 games where we've got the points we've deserved. "