AFC Wimbledon v Walsall: Saddlers need a miracle – but must do their own job

The Saddlers’ agonising 3-2 defeat at the hands of Bradford City coupled with unfavourable results in midweek has left them needing a miracle to finish among the top seven.

Doncaster Rovers’ commanding 4-1 win over Colchester United all but secured their place in the play-offs, while Bradford’s 2-1 win at Barrow saw them leapfrog Walsall into ninth.

Nevertheless, Walsall are still mathematically in the hunt, although in reality the dream looks to have passed them by.

While requiring three points themselves, Walsall will also need Barrow and Crawley Town to lose and Bradford to either lose or draw on the final day.

Meanwhile, there will also need to be a seven-goal swing between themselves and seventh-placed Barrow. Mat Sadler will be putting events elsewhere to one side and focusing on finishing the season in winning fashion.

“Coming back together as we did after the game on Monday, I think we needed that with each other to brush away the cobwebs and move forward again,” the Walsall boss revealed.

“We’d love it if it was in our own hands. Still, we go into it with everything to play for, but most importantly from my perspective with the desire to finish the season by winning the game.

“That will be our focus. We’ll keep fighting and we’ll give everything until the final whistle.

“Stranger things have happened in football. In terms of us, we have to sort out our side of the bargain and we have to try and win the game.”

Walsall’s away record has improved in comparison to last season, although results on the road have still been hard to come by this term. The Saddlers have collected just two wins from their last nine away league fixtures (losing four, drawing three).

However, they are guaranteed to register their highest finish since suffering relegation to the EFL’s basement division, in 2019, if they avoid defeat at Plough Lane.

Jack Earing, who has missed the past seven games with a hamstring injury, has been ruled out once again, along with Harry Williams (hip flexor).

Oisin McEntee has trained throughout the week but remains a major doubt, as Sadler weighs up the risks of reintroducing him into the fold.

He added: “We’ll see. Oisin was out for 16 to 17 weeks so it’s hard for him to go straight into it.

“He is in contention. We’ll see how tomorrow shakes down, I haven’t ruled him out yet for certain but it’s great to see him out on the grass.

“I can see why we missed him so much because he’s such a powerful player for us both as a centre-back and as a midfield player.”