The team that has gatecrashed their way up into the playoffs so often has the momentum in seeking the final promotion place. Walsall are hoping this year it is the team that has crashed down into them that prevails when they take on AFC Wimbledon in Monday’sLeague Twofinal.
Mat Sadler’s team were 12 points clear in January. They had won nine successive league games for the first time in their history. Their 6ft 4in teenage goal sensation, who ended up as the League Two young player of the year, was finishing off much of the high pressing and long balls of a well-drilled, young side.
Then Stoke recalled Nathan Lowe from his loan spell. Walsall’s results nosedived and on the final day of the season, and despite winning for the first time in 14 games at Crewe, they slipped out of the third automatic promotion place as Bradford scored a 96th-minute winner against Fleetwood.
Clubs with more fragile constitutions might have crumbled. Instead, Walsall overcame Chesterfield, the team who did surge late into the playoffs, in the semi-final, winning 4-1 on aggregate.
At Walsall’s homespun training ground last week, optimism entwined neatly with quiet diligence as the squad prepared for the club’s second visit to Wembley in their 137-year history, 10 years after a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy loss to Bristol City.
Perspective is everything and Walsall staff and players can see cause for celebration in what is an outstanding season after averaging 15th place since relegation in 2019.
“Before the season, no one expected us to be in the position we are now or were in January,” says Liam Gordon, Walsall’s talented left wing-back. “For us as players, we understand how disappointing it is that we let that lead slip, but everyone wrote us off anyway, so it’s a massive achievement to reach the final.
“We were disappointed in losing Lowey but he’s a great player. We knew he wasn’t going to come back to us, so we had to take that out of our minds.
“It’s a lot of adversity that we have had to [process]. At times, fear did come into play, naturally when the gap started closing. But we’ve been able to bounce back and show our mental resilience.”
Walsall had been playing to Lowe’s strengths and the youngest team in the division looked like they would storm to their first promotion in 18 years. But they still finished as League Two’s top scorers, even with the third-lowest possession.
Sadler, who had two spells at Walsall as a player, says “it was late doors” when Lowe was recalled. “How many did Nathan score in the league – 15? So there are another 60 goals scored from other players that were very effective for us as well,” he says. “The main thing for me is remaining consistent.”
Lowe’s departure coincided with injuries to key creative players, including George Hall, one of two talented loanees from Birmingham, now fit again, and Jack Earing, who is likely to be back in the squad for Wembley. “For sure, that maybe affected confidence but there was a real element of fortune that went the wrong way as well,” Sadler adds.
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Averaging 2.3 points a game while spending 119 days at the top of the table was never sustainable for Walsall. Yet if the season had played out in expected goals, for and against, Walsall would have edged Doncaster for the title. Their XG against was 43; they conceded 54 goals.
They also possess one of the best records for goals scored in the last 15 minutes. “For the majority part of the season we’ve been direct, and we feel we can run over teams,” says Gordon, who spent two years in AFC Wimbledon’s academy. “This is the fittest group I’ve been a part of. We use that to our advantage and try to suffocate teams when we don’t have the ball.
“I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself as anything can change in football, but we feel back to what we do best. Those three wins [in a row] are only going to push us in the right direction towards the final goal, which is promotion.”
Walsall travel to London on Sunday exactly three years since Gordon, out of contract this summer, signed. On his first day of training he collapsed after a standard 2.5km run. Blood flow problems in his leg led to infection and the 26-year-old had to have three surgeries in five days for acute compartment syndrome.
“The doctor said I may never get the feeling back and I may never be able to function as I had before, so I was thinking about football being done,” says Gordon, who has gone on to captain Guyana. “But I had the resilience and faith to push through. Every day I have that perspective and understanding that it could’ve been a different scenario for me. It makes me appreciate life and football even more.”