Walsall boss Mat Sadler praised his runaway League Two leaders for not letting top scorer Nathan Lowe’s departure derail their stunning form after they brushed MK Dons aside 4-2.
Lowe, the division’s leading marksman with 15 league goals, was this week recalled by Championship parent club Stoke and scored on his Potters return.
But Walsall showed there was life after Lowe as three defenders – centre-backs David Okagbue and Harry Williams, plus wing-back Liam Gordon – all netted along with Albert Adomah.
That helped Walsall come from behind, after Scott Hogan’s coolly-taken opener for Dons, to claim a club-record extending ninth straight league win and maintain a 12-point cushion.
“I made the point of saying to the lads ‘please send Nathan messages and let him know we’re happy for him’ – but then we’ve got our job to do,” said Sadler.
“There was certainly no avoiding the fact he’d gone but we just carried on because we know a what a team we’ve got and what a spirit we’ve got.
“We are a team because of the collective sum of our parts – we are not about individuals. That’s how you get success because everyone’s got to play their role and feel they are valued.
“We didn’t let it faze us that we conceded and then second half we were tremendously powerful, strong and athletic. We were relentless and could have scored a few more.”
Sadler reserved special praise for veteran front pair Adomah, 37, and 35-year-old Jamille Matt.
“They set the platform for the whole team,” Sadler added. “They were amazing, a focal point for so much of that performance.”
Dons grabbed a spectacular late consolation through substitute Kane Thompson-Summers but slipped to a fifth defeat in seven games.
Errors from goalkeeper Tom McGill led to goals for Okagbue and Adomah, while Gordon netted 25 seconds after the interval and Williams from a set-piece.
“I thought we were the better side in the first half, we played some good football and scored a good goal, but we’ve got to be stronger on the set-pieces,” said Dons boss Scott Lindsey.
“And then second half, we don’t start. We don’t defend the cross, we’re too passive and they score after 30 seconds.
“All the things we spoke about at half-time go out the window and we weren’t professional or aggressive enough to stay in the game.
“They had about three or four touches in our box for their third goal and then the fourth was just kamikaze, I don’t know what we were doing.
“We’ve got to have a bit more character and belief – you can’t defend the box that poorly and we can’t be gifting the goals like we did on the first one and the fourth.”
