A season of progression on and off the pitch for Walsall

Hopes for a play-off push were dashed as Walsall fell five points short of the top seven at the end of a season of promise.

Here we take a look at the ups and downs of Mat Sadler's debut season in the dugout.

Successes

You only need to glance at the final table to see signs of progression under Sadler. Although they somewhat limped to an eventual 11th place finish in his debut season, Walsall still managed to climb five places higher than the previous two campaigns with their best points tally in eight years.

Walsall were particularly strong at Bescot where they beat promoted trio Stockport County, Wrexham and Mansfield Town respectively. They gained 65 per cent of their 65 points on home soil and finished the campaign with their best home record (42 points) since lifting the League Two trophy under Richard Money in 2006/07.

They propelled themselves into play-off contention with two glorious spells. First, Walsall crowned a run of five wins in six games during the winter by scoring six on the road in the league for the first time since 1948 with a 6-1 crushing of Grimsby Town on New Year's Day.

Then, Walsall reeled off five wins on the spin to briefly climb into the play-off spots. Set pieces also played an instrumental role throughout the campaign with the Saddlers scoring a third of their 69 league goals from dead ball situations.

Failures