Nobody expected Walsall to win League Two and get promoted this season, and 23 other teams would probably swap places with them.
Those are two of the thoughts head coach Mat Sadler is holding onto as Walsall move into the last month of the EFL season two points clear at the top and five points above Doncaster Rovers, with whom they drew 2-2 on Tuesday night, in fourth place.
In a division that sends three teams up automatically, the Saddlers might look at first glance as if they’re sitting pretty. In truth, they’re anything but comfortable.
Walsall aim to go up the hard way
FourFourTwo was in attendance at Doncaster’s Eco-Power Stadium as fourth hosted third in English football’s fourth tier.
Doncaster twice took the lead and Walsall twice regrouped and equalised either immediately or thereabouts. The 2-2 draw served both teams well enough but took them no closer to settling their promotion prospects.
Walsall have been top of the table for months. They won nine consecutive league matches in December and January, breaking a club record and earning a new contract for Sadler, but their form turned on a sixpence.
In the 14 matches between that ninth win and Tuesday’s trip to South Yorkshire, Walsall won only twice. They’re drawing too often and not winning often enough. It seems almost simple when it’s reduced to that.
After beating MK Dons in the middle of January, the Saddlers were 12 points clear of Crewe Alexandra. The live table when behind at Doncaster showed them as little as a single point above Bradford City.
There’s no denying that Walsall’s form presents a conundrum – the results dictate that, no matter how one looks at them – but it’s striking how little nervousness is apparent in their play.
In the circumstances, their steeliness and bravery in possession is as admirable as it is impressive. These should be difficult times but Sadler speaks mostly about enjoying the challenge and pushing his players to do the same.
The consequence of that is a team of players who’ve let a comfortable position slip through their fingers since losing a vital player when Nathan Lowe’s loan spell was cut short by Stoke City but they refuse to hide.
They’re still well organised. They still graft. They still want the ball, are still brave in possession, and are still willing to take a risk to get the ball forward and cause problems for the opposition defenders. That was a particular keystone of Sadler’s plan on Tuesday and it worked well.
With leaders like striker Jamille Matt and defender Oison McEntee still leading by example, it’s easier to see the positive side of Walsall’s circumstances than their results in 2025 might suggest.
“The group know that I trust them,” Sadler told FourFourTwo.
“We've been through a lot together throughout the year and I'm well aware of my how my manner on the side of the pitch can affect what happens on the pitch.
“There'll certainly be no ranting and raving because the guys are giving everything. So for me, it's just trying to give them that confidence in the right areas to go and express themselves.”
The size of the challenge facing Walsall is significant. They’ll need wins eventually, yet they play like a team able to focus on the novelty of exceeding expectations rather than the immediate pressure of teams starting to breathe down their necks.
'We've always showed heart'
The word on Sadler’s lips most often after the match was ‘character’ and they have that in spades. They’ve put themselves in a position in which they’re going to have to draw on those reserves but their resilience was evident for the second game in row.
Walsall went a goal behind in the first half and equalised almost immediately. They conceded late and scored again, as the game entered stoppage time, when substitute Danny Johnson was characteristically in the right place at the right time to head in a loose ball.
“I think it’s really who we’ve been all year,” answers Sadler when FourFourTwo asks whether that character, that bottle, is what his team must show to get over the line this season.
“For better and poorer, for wins and defeats, we’ve always showed character. We’ve always showed heart.
“We wanted to be a team that supporters are proud of. We wanted to give them moments like we have here tonight and like we’ve had throughout the season.
“And honestly, we wanted to give them big games to be involved in, which we are. We’ve got to continue that and keep fighting the fight.”
Walsall don’t have long to wait before the next big game and there are five more to come after that.
The crunch match, the six-pointer, is a lunchtime kick-off at home against third-placed Port Vale on Saturday. Vale, like Bradford, are two points behind Walsall.
Barrow, Harrogate Town, Newport County, Accrington Stanley and play-off hopefuls Crewe follow.
On Tuesday’s evidence, Sadler will deal with all of that with a smile on his face.
Nervous? Not a bit of it.
