KEATES HITS OUT AT SAD SADDLERS
DEAN KEATES insisted he is still the right man for the job, despite seeing his Walsall side fall to defeat at Coventry City.
Former Saddlers’ Amadou Bakayoko and Jordy Hiwula scored against their former club with Bright Enobakhare adding a second-half penalty.
The defeat stretched the Saddlers’ wretched run of form to just two wins in 21 games as they now find themselves two points off the League One relegation zone.
But Keates still believes he is the man to turn things around.
“I have the fight in me to take this club forward and I want to do that,” he said. “It’s virtually the same squad who went on the unbelievable run at the beginning of the season. But they need to go out next week and give everything for this football club.”
Keates criticised some members of his squad for not showing the performance levels required.
“You have players knocking on the door asking to play and when you give them the opportunity, they’re not performing,” he added.
“Five defeats in a row is nowhere near good enough in the predicament we’re in. There’s 39 points to play for, before we know it there’ll only be 36. We had a frank, honest discussion in there about what needs to be done and what’s good enough.”
Coventry manager Mark Robins praised Bakayoko’s performance as outstanding.
“He’s set his benchmark and he’s got to keep doing that,” said Robins. “It was a great ball in from Dujon Sterling and he scored a really good header, and some of the movement was what we are after, so really pleased.”
While pleased with the result, Robins still felt his side should have won by an even bigger margin. “We could have won by a more emphatic scoreline had we taken more chances,” he said.
“But the dressing room is really bouncing and we have got to keep doing that for the rest of the season.”
Coventry took a deserved lead on the half-hour mark when Bakayoko headed in Sterling’s delightful cross, before celebrating by shushing the away crowd.
It took the hosts just five minutes to double their lead and again it was a former Saddler as Hiwula capitalised on Jack Fitzwater’s slip to burst into the box and slot past Walsall keeper Liam Roberts. City should have added to their advantage after the break, but Roberts pulled off a string of fine saves while Enobakhare also blazed over with the goal gaping. But they did seal the win when Enoubakhare atoned for his glaring miss by slotting home a 73rd-minute penalty after he was tripped in the box. COVENTRY CITY: Stockdale 7, Sterling 7, Willis 7, Hyam 7, Mason 7, Bayliss 6 (Meyler 83), Kelly 7, Thomas 7 (Wakefield 90+1), Enobakhare 6 (Chaplin 76, 6), Hiwula 7, Bakayoko 8. Subs not used: Grimmer, Davies, Shipley, Addai. WALSALL: L Roberts 7, Devlin 5, Scarr 5, Fitzwater 5, Laird 5, Ismail 5, Edwards 5, Kinsella 5, Jarvis 5, Cook 6, Oteh 5 (Blackett-Taylor 57, 6). Subs not used: Leahy, Guthrie, Dunn, Norman, Gordon, Osbourne.