Walsall boss Mat Sadler gives damning response after final day nightmare

Walsall were calamitous defensively as they were punished by a ruthless Wimbledon attack.

Omar Bugiel helped himself to a hat-trick to stretch Wimbledon's lead to two seven minutes after the break, after Isaac Hutchinson had levelled from the spot in the 25th minute.

Ronan Curtis added a fourth and Mo Faal headed into his own net as Wimbledon ran riot to consign Walsall to a heavy defeat.

Sadler said: "I am frustrated that we have to stew on this result for sometime now. I look forward to talking to you after the first game next season when we've eradicated that with a win.

"That's the frustration for me today because the group have been amazing this season from minute one. They've moved the football club forward this season in many different ways and we wanted to finish the season strongly.

"We weren't able to do that and I think building into next year, those days that we've had there, and there's been a couple of them this season where the game seems to have gone away from us in quite a quick manner.

"We have to eradicate those days. They can't happen. Those are the things that I reflect on the game. I have to give it a little bit of perspective considering what we've done this season and going into the final game still going for the play-offs is something we haven't done for sometime but I can't help but leave disappointed."

Tom Knowles was guilty of not closing down Lee Brown in the build-up to the first two goals, while Walsall's inability to defend crosses from wide areas was a constant problem.

The Saddlers have leaked 73 goals this term, including 12 in their last four, and Sadler conceded that Walsall were unable to get the basics right at the back.

"We spoke about it at half-time because I felt as though we didn't get anywhere near tight enough in the first half in particular with the two goals that they scored.

"Showing that kind of determination to prevent the ball going into your box and getting tight to your men in the box is your basics as a defender.

"There will be things when we all reflect back and all watch back, we know we'll be disappointed by."

Nevertheless, after guiding Walsall to their highest finish in League Two since relegation in 2019, Sadler is not prepared to oversee yet another rebuild job, as he continues to built with a large portion of the current squad.

"My job now is making sure those little tweaks that I want to make because I certainly don't think it's a rebuild job," he concluded.

"It's a tweak job that I do make and we'll improve in the areas that we need to improve in."