Walsall boss Darrell Clarke: First goal was key

James Wilson netted after 16 minutes, despite the Saddlers looking dangerous in the opening 45 minutes.

Luke Burgess netted a late second to end Walsall’s winning run and Clarke believes if his side had scored first, it may have been a different outcome.

“I thought in the first half we started quite well to be honest, on the front foot,” Clarke said.

“They scored on their first real attack and that’s disappointing for us because you come to a place like Salford with big name players and you don’t want to give them the first goal.

“We were in the ascendency for a lot of that first half but then you’re chasing the game.

“We’ve come back in a lot of games this season but when you come up against a better team like Salford that are unbeaten at home, you can’t afford to give them that cheap first goal.

“We did that and in the second half it got a little bit scrappy, changing it around looking for different answers.

“We’ve had a couple of half chances and then poor defending for the second goal.

“It was a game where Scrimmy (Jake Scrimshaw) was unfortunate not to start because he’s scored a couple of goals previously, so you want to get him on the pitch as soon as you possibly can.

“It’s disappointing that we gave the first goal away. If we scored the first goal I think we’d be having a different conversation.

“The winning run has come to an end but if you do that every seven games - win four, draw two and lose one - then I’ll be a happy man from now until the end of the season.”

Walsall were again without a left-back for the game, however Zak Jules and George Nurse travelled and trained with the squad ahead of kick-off.

“There’s a little bit of imbalance in the team with the left-back situation,” Clarke added.

“Hopefully one or two of those left-backs are coming back. Even Mat Sadler is carrying a little niggle so I couldn’t afford to risk him.

“We’re having problems there and with Rory Holden picking up an injury in midweek hasn’t helped as he has that bit of quality in the final third that we missed.

“They’re (Jules and Nurse) not full out yet but I wanted to bring them as part of the squad to hopefully not be too long away.

“They’re building their fitness levels up and making sure they don’t get a reaction to their injuries.”

Meanwhile, Rory Holden could be on the sidelines for some time with a knee injury that kept him out of the Salford fixture.

When asked if Holden will play in the remaining festive fixtures, Clarke said: “We’re going to struggle. An innocuous challenge on Wednesday and we’re very disappointed.

“We’ll get it assessed. It’s his knee. We’ll see how that goes.

“He’s very, very unlikely to be featuring in any part of the Christmas period.”