Liam Roberts' mental strength hailed by Walsall

The academy product has only just recently returned to the side after he fumbled a 35-yard free-kick against Newport in November, costing the Saddlers two points in the 1-1 draw.

On Saturday, he allowed a Tom Conlon free-kick from similar distance to go through his legs, but Walsall still went on to win, and Dutton has praised the goalkeeper for his reaction.

“What’s important from my aspect and the management point of view, is how does Liam Roberts react to that goal,” Dutton said. “Against Newport we conceded a similar goal from long range and it’s fair to say that Liam, before we got him in at half-time, went into his shell a little bit.

“He’s come out of the team and come back in and another error has been made, similar to that one at Newport, and I thought he reacted superbly to it.

“He reacted like a man. He got his chest out and rolled his sleeves up. He came for crosses, made saves, organised and talked. That was exactly what we were after from him. I’m really pleased with his reaction. Sometimes errors happen, everyone makes mistakes, and it’s how you react to them.

“Credit to him and how he reacted.

“Of course it annoys us, because we know how good a goalkeeper Liam Roberts is.

“He’s fantastic and too good for the division when he’s on his day.

“As with all players you dip in and out of form and have periods in your career where you’re not as sharp as you’d like to be.

“We all believe in him and we back him. It’s just another little blip in the road and no doubt he’ll recover from that and kick on.

“There’s no issues there. Whether it’s a goalkeeper or a centre-half, centre-midfielder or striker, we all make errors throughout our career.

“It’s how you bounce back from that. That’s what is important.”