Walsall boss Mat Sadler insists his Sky Bet League Two leaders will take no notice of outside noise despite seeing their cushion at the top cut further by a 1-0 home loss to Swindon.
The Saddlers led the division by 12 points in January, but the advantage is now down to four after Joel Cotterill’s second-half winner for Ian Holloway’s resurgent Robins.
Walsall struggled creatively and slipped to a fourth defeat in nine games, having lost just three in their first 25.
“I’m not making the picture any bigger or any smaller than it needs to be,” Sadler said after a day when second-placed Bradford and Doncaster, in third, both won.
“We just need to focus – the table doesn’t have an effect on the game. The other results don’t have an effect on our performance and our focus, so it’s focusing on what we can control.
“It was just one of those games today. Their moment, they took and some of our little half-moments, we didn’t.
“If we’re being honest, we didn’t quite find a way to break them down. Ironically the goal came when we were on top and starting to find some of the places we like to pick the ball up in.”
Walsall next travel to bottom side Carlisle on Tuesday, but Sadler added: “You want to pick up points from every game and I don’t put more relevance on one than another.
“It’s not about what anyone else does. It’s about us attacking the next game.”
Swindon, meanwhile, are among the division’s form teams after a sixth win in eight games – a run which has led them well away from trouble and up to 14th place.
Goalkeeper Connor Ripley made a flying late save to thwart Albert Adomah, but was otherwise largely untroubled as Swindon ended the hosts’ 12-game unbeaten home league streak.
“They did the club proud and it was all about showing Walsall where we are now, because they’re setting the standard, not us,” said Robins boss Holloway.
“I’m absolutely delighted, I thought we thoroughly deserved it.
“Every one of my players had a good game today and that’s what we need to do from now until the end of the season, especially when you’re up against a team as good as this.
“They were very selfish when I first came in and now they’re not, they realise it’s about ‘us’ and not just about them. They are a real group now and they get it.
“The team is getting stronger and stronger, even physically we looked like we could handle Walsall as well which, a few months ago, we probably wouldn’t have done.
“Now, we know we can beat top of the league so can we consistently produce performances like that?”
