Michael Flynn admitted his side entered their worst first-half performance since he replaced Darrell Clarke in the Bescot Stadium hot seat as the Saddlers and Colchester United played out a one-all draw on Tuesday evening.
Falling behind to Frank Nouble's goal with just two-minutes on the clock, Walsall failed to make any sort of impression upon their visitors' goal until shortly after the hour mark as Tom Knowles bagged his first goal as a Saddler.
Flynn, who was able to turn the tide in part by making a double half-time substitution, admitted he probably started the game with the wrong line-up even going as far as to apologise to the fans for his side's slow start.
Speaking to the Express & Star's Saddlers reporter Joe Edwards, amongst others, Michael said; "We should have gone on and won it but at half-time, if you had asked me if we would go on to win it, I would've said 'no chance'.
"It's the worst forty-five minutes of me being in charge. We lost every battle – first contact and second contact. We didn't have the courage to pass the ball.
"The goal we gave away was farcical. Nobody spoke to each other. We gave throw-ins away and couldn't receive it from a throw-in. I'll take responsibility as it's my team.
"I put them out there and probably got the set-up wrong – and one or two personnel. But what I will be positive about is the way we came out for the second half, the courage they had to get on the ball.
"As a team, we let them off the hook after that second-half performance. But the first-half performance was nowhere near good enough.
"We got booed off and rightly so. We've giving ourselves a mountain to climb. The second half, I've got to say, the crowd played a real part when we needed them.
"You could just feel the whole place lift. For that first-half performance, I'd like to apologise on behalf of myself and the team."