Bradshaw was the difference - Smith
ByPA Sport Report
Published 11/04/2015 at 17:34 GMT
Walsall manager Dean Smith was delighted to see his top scorer Tom Bradshaw return after missing three games through injury and bag the only goal against Fleetwood four minutes from time at the Banks's Stadium.
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Recovered from a strained hamstring, he showed what he Saddlers had been missing in nearly eight hours without a goal when he nipped onto Michael Cain's pass and drilled home a cross-shot for his 17th goal of the season.
A relieved Smith said: "Tom was back to fitness and it showed. He worked the keeper a number of times and had a chance he made for himself in the fifth minute. I think he was shattered at the end of his celebrations.
"But it's not just about Tom, although we are a better team when he is in. I thought we were excellent against a good team. We had reports that Fleetwood were a good attacking team, but they had to defend an awful lot.
"We controlled the game for long periods, and we were just think it was not going in again for us, when Tom scored."
Apart from the opening 10 minutes when Fleetwood created and missed a couple of half chances, Jamie Proctor hitting one 15-yard drive over the top, the Saddlers controlled the game , but could not finish off some decent raids.
And after four games without a goal the fans were fearing it was going to be another blank when Bradshaw struck.
Smith said: "I know it was frustrating when the goal wouldn't come, but the fans could see the determination in the team. We have dominated the last three games, and it was nice to get the double against a team with some really good players."
After Fleetwood had won their last two games, scoring a total of five goals without reply, this defeat was disappointing for manager Graham Alexander whose men wanted to improve their play-off hopes.
"We are still in there with an outside chance if anyone slips up, as long as we do our job," he said.
"I was disappointed with our second half performance, and I thought we controlled it in the first half and had a couple of really good opportunities in the first 10 or 15 minutes.
"It's been a bit of an Achilles heel for us this season ,throwing away possible draws and getting beat.
"We gave the ball away for the goal, which we did quite often in the second half, and Bradshaw made himself half a yard and scored with a good finish from a striker who has scored a lot of goals.
"I didn't say we had any targets this season, but we wanted to keep our good run or results going. But I don't think, as a group, we played at the level I know we can"
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