Walsall boss Lee Grant has admitted his side showed two sides of themselves as they slipped to their first defeat of the league season at home to Salford City on Monday evening.
Playing in front of the Sky Sports cameras, the Saddlers twice fell two goals behind as their unbeaten start came to an end, as their opponents continued their strong spell of form.
Walsall fell behind on the stroke of half-time when Macauley Langstaff grabbed his fifth goal of the season, a goal that was added to by Jorge Grant early in the second half.
Refusing to go down that easily, the Saddlers would go on to drag themselves back onto level terms when Aaron Pressley's eighth league goal of the season was added to by Lewis Simper, as parity was re established.
However, with just over a minute played, the visitors were able to re-take the lead as Kallum Cesay came off the bench to score before Adebola Oluwo made it 4-2 to the Ammies.
Speaking to the assembled media, including Express & Star reporter George Bennett, Lee said: "There were two versions of us.
"The version that didn’t play with enough personality, belief or confidence for the majority of the first half. Then there’s the version at 2-0 down which decides that we need to have a swing at the game.
"We know we’ve got players that can create big moments, score goals, deliver top crosses and finish good actions.
Walsall fell behind on the stroke of half-time when Macauley Langstaff grabbed his fifth goal of the season, a goal that was added to by Jorge Grant early in the second half.
Refusing to go down that easily, the Saddlers would go on to drag themselves back onto level terms when Aaron Pressley's eighth league goal of the season was added to by Lewis Simper, as parity was re established.
However, with just over a minute played, the visitors were able to re-take the lead as Kallum Cesay came off the bench to score before Adebola Oluwo made it 4-2 to the Ammies.
Speaking to the assembled media, including Express & Star reporter George Bennett, Lee said: "There were two versions of us.
"The version that didn’t play with enough personality, belief or confidence for the majority of the first half. Then there’s the version at 2-0 down which decides that we need to have a swing at the game.
"We know we’ve got players that can create big moments, score goals, deliver top crosses and finish good actions.
"That’s the version that we saw for a good chunk in that second half, but overall we didn’t show enough belief and confidence in what we are and what we’ve delivered over large parts of the season.
"When we’ve got opportunities to show personality and win games - we want to do that. My belief was that for too big of a chunk, particularly in the first half, we were just in our shells. That surprises me somewhat, but OK, no problem, we’re still learning."
"When we’ve got opportunities to show personality and win games - we want to do that. My belief was that for too big of a chunk, particularly in the first half, we were just in our shells. That surprises me somewhat, but OK, no problem, we’re still learning."
