Walsall boss Mat Sadler insisted he will not press the panic button despite seeing his faltering League Two leaders suffer back-to-back home defeats after losing 3-1 to Grimsby.
After storming 12 points clear at one stage following nine straight wins, Walsall have since taken just 10 points from the next 33 available to give hope to a growing chasing pack.
They led early on against fellow promotion hopefuls Grimsby through Ellis Harrison’s crisp finish but the Mariners ran out worthy winners, with Jayden Luker’s brace sandwiching Danny Rose’s penalty.
“For me, it’s about not using words like that [panic] because they don’t mean anything – all they do is drum up feelings of emotion that aren’t helpful to try to win a football match,” Sadler said.
“It’s important we attack the next game. We’re still in a fantastic position and we are still having a fantastic season. We’ve just lost a couple of games.
“No one should ever think it is anything other than a long, competitive, arduous league. It has proven that time and time again – as it is doing for us, now.
“Now it’s about the mentality and moving forward. We’ve got to keep believing and trusting who we are. We’ve got to ride through setbacks and continue the belief.
“The most important thing from my side of the fence is not to forget. I’m not going to forget what we’ve done previously – we’re a very, very good team and we’ve proven that countless times.”
Five wins in an unbeaten eight-game run have propelled Grimsby into promotion contention, having now won away at two of the top three – Walsall and Doncaster – in that sequence.
Luker fired home from 20 yards to cancel Harrison’s opener and later strode through to slot in the third after Rose had punished Taylor Allen’s foul on Tyrell Warren from the spot.
“This run has been based on performances, belief and players taking on board what we’re trying to do, becoming better individually and as a team,” said delighted Mariners boss David Artell.
“If that gives us a squeak, it gives us a squeak – but there are 11 games to go, nearly a quarter of the season, so nobody is getting carried away.
“We’re eight unbeaten and if we keep playing well we might be there or thereabouts – if we keep playing like we did today, we will be. But that’s the challenge.
“It was a fully deserved result and an excellent performance. We made a mistake early on but it didn’t rock us at all – we were outstanding.
“The movement all over the pitch to create loads of opportunities was excellent. We made a good team look average. They’re top of the league and I thought we were by far the better team.”
