On Sunday afternoon Walsall Football Club travelled to Wembley Stadium to take on Bristol City in the Final of this season's Johnstone's Paint Trophy competition. Following the match, Walsall manager Dean Smith spoke to the press, and has admitted that his team failed to hit their stride.
Speaking to the Walsall Advertiser, Smith said; “We didn’t really perform to anywhere near our level. That was the disappointing part of it. Our use of the ball wasn’t as good as there’s and I think because of that we lost the game.
“Maybe a bit of nerves. I don’t know. We’re normally very good on the ball. Today our use of the ball wasn’t quite good enough. Sometimes that happens.
“It could be the occasion. They’re young lads out there. They won’t have been in front of this occasion before. In front of 72,000. And they handled it a lot better than we did.
“I think the timing of the goals as well. The second one at the start of the second half is a mountain to climb against a team like that.
“We just needed something that would give us a bit of momentum. Sometimes luck doesn’t go with you – the one that’s hit the post and bounced out. It just didn’t go with us today.”