Spot on for ‘colossal’ Saddlers

MICHAEL Flynn applauded injury-hit Walsall’s “colossal” commitment as they carved out a superb victory over playoff hunting Sutton United.

Conor Wilkinson’s first-half penalty continued the Saddlers revival under Flynn, who hailed a trio of players that turned out despite being less than 100 per cent fit.

Flynn said: “The most pleasing thing for me is we’ve got Hayden White, who has had Covid and been really struggling, Manny Monthe has had swelling on his knee and Tyrese Shade was ill.

“I had three players who, if we had a deeper squad, might not have started. Those three were colossal and showed an unbelievable character and commitment to the cause.”

He added: “We knew it wasn’t going to be the prettiest of games. The players stood up and won their individual battles.”

United slipped to seventh with this defeat as Wilkinson’s spot-kick made it 11 points out of 18 for the Saddlers since Flynn took over.

The decisive goal arrived on 33 minutes as Joe Kizzi barged Wilkinson over in the area and the Saddlers striker slammed home straight down the middle.

Sutton lost three players to injury before half-time – goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis in the warm-up, then Donovan Wilson and Harry Beautyman in the first half.

Their best chance of the first 45 minutes saw Beautyman’s goalbound shot, from a Kizzi knockdown, blocked by Wilkinson soon after Walsall’s opener.

Sutton’s stand-in stopper Stuart Nelson lived dangerously at the start of the second half as Wilkinson blocked a clearance only for

Coby Rowe’s sliding tackle to deny the forward a tap-in. Wilkinson forced a smart near-post save from Nelson just after the hour, before Richie Bennett wasted Sutton’s best chance to salvage a point, heading wide from Enzio Boldewijn’s deep cross.

Sutton boss Matt Gray said: “I was really pleased with the first-half performance. We were certainly the team on top in the first half.

“I’m just really disappointed with the goal. It’s a really soft penalty. We were a bit disappointed to come in behind and didn’t feel we deserved to be.”