Brian Dutton deflated by Walsall's EFL Trophy penalty defeat
Walsall assistant manager Brian Dutton was left deflated by the club's penalty defeat to Chelsea Under-21s after dominating large parts of the EFL Trophy clash.
Elijah Adebayo was particularly useful as the Saddlers saw several first half opportunities fall by the wayside.
They eventually netted through Wes McDonald and were later pegged back before losing 5-3 on penalties and Dutton felt the side needed to be more ruthless in front of goal.
“It’s not the result we wanted but in terms of performance I thought we were very good defensively," he said.
“Out of possession we managed to contain Chelsea and counter at various opportunities in the match to look to score.
“A good night’s work defensively but offensively we just want that killer instinct in the team, which will come in time, but it wasn’t there tonight.
“Chelsea are a good side, they have good players of the top calibre.
“We knew it was going to be a difficult game. We watched the game against Oxford and they’re a top team.
“We knew we were in for a tough night but I thought we were on the front foot and the better team overall.
“In terms of taking the game to Chelsea, the lads can be proud of getting on the front foot."
Only Cameron Norman missed from the spot for Walsall and Dutton felt they were unfortunate.
“Penalties - that old cliche of being a lottery, I don’t agree with that," he added.
“You can do as much work on the training pitch and you can bear the fruits of that.
“We do a lot of work regarding penalties and we’re coming into this confident in the penalty shoot-out.
“Especially confident with Cam Norman because he’s one of the purer strikers of the ball and unfortunately their keeper has made a great save.
“We’ll put that down to a little bit of bad fortune but I don’t agree with it being a lottery in penalty shoot-outs.
“The lads did all they can and we were a little bit unfortunate."
