Express & Star

Mat Sadler delighted with gutsy Walsall

Mat Sadler has praised Walsall for "overcoming adversity" to beat Cheltenham Town 2-1 at Bescot.

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Nathan Lowe and Jamille Matt propelled Walsall into a two-goal lead in the second half with Connor Barrett providing assists for both goals.

Ryan Stirk and Lowe hit the woodwork for Walsall before former Saddlers striker George Miller halved the deficit late on.

Walsall, who suffered three injury blows in the first 47 minutes, held on to register their third league win in four matches.

Sadler said: "I saw one team that was going for it from the off. The game in the first half certainly lost its rhythm and flow due to the injuries we picked up which was a real shame.

"But we spoke about the ways we wanted to hurt them at half-time and we did that in the second half. That was what was really pleasing.

"We had to do it a different way today. We had to come through a lot of adversity in terms of people out but I thought Harry (Williams) was brilliant when he came on and Nathan (Lowe) will rightly get some of the plaudits.

"It was a proper team performance and I'm really proud of the lads."

Josh Gordon pulled up with a suspected hamstring issue on 15 minutes before Oisin McEntee was forced off eight minutes later.

Liam Gordon then picked up a knock after a strong challenge from Ibrahim Bakare at the end of the first half and lasted just 45 seconds before having to make way after the break.

Sadler provided an early assessment on all three injuries and is hopeful they won't prove to be long-term.

"They didn't look bad so fingers crossed they're 'weeks' injuries. We spoke to Gords (Liam Gordon) at half-time and he said he was OK to carry on but it just got a little bit too sore for him," he revealed.

"It was a really heavy challenge on him in the first half which is hopefully just swelling or an impact (injury) rather than anything more sinister."

Meanwhile, Albert Adomah was absent from the squad due to a shoulder injury although Sadler does not expect it to be serious.

Priestley Farquharson missed the game with a thigh injury but the club will not receive the results from his scan until later this evening.

He added: "Albert, he didn't play today because he hurt his shoulder on Tuesday night.

"It's just inflammation, I don't think there's any problem there but it was too sour for him to be available today. So Albert should be fine.

"We will find out about Priestley later this evening. The scan results have been a pain and we still don't have them."