Head coach Mat Sadler praised Walsall’s “fighting performance” after they secured a 2-0 win at Chesterfield in the first leg of their League Two play-off semi-final.
Both goals came in the first half, with Taylor Allen scoring from the spot and Alfie Chang doubling the advantage.
Sadler said: “I thought we played well. I thought we started a little bit edgily and then grew into the game.
“Listen, we’ve got a young team and these experiences that we’re going through together, they’re invaluable for everyone, the careers that we’re going to move forward with.
“So that was another experience today in a fantastic, cool arena for football, a sell-out crowd, everyone right on top of the game.
“We knew we were going to have that period of settling and when we did that, I thought we started to really get into the game and tried to exploit some of the areas that we wanted to. That was pleasing.
“There were some really good performances so I have to be pleased with that, of course.
“I’ve got an unbelievable group and I’ve had that all season. I’ve had it in every single game. We never give up, we never feel sorry for ourselves. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, we’re fighters, we’re not victims to anything and we’ll keep fighting.
“I thought that was a fighting performance from us and we had to do it in loads of different ways.”
Chesterfield manager Paul Cook conceded Walsall are now favourites to go through to the final but insists it is not a foregone conclusion.
“Walsall are in the ascendancy, without a shadow of a doubt,” Cook said. “They’ve come here and they’ve done a really good job in the game.
“We huffed and we puffed and there were moments where we could have got back into it. It just didn’t happen for us and the crowd were brilliant, absolutely. I’ve loved every minute of the last few days and the atmosphere around the town and what it means to people.
“Unfortunately for us, our Achilles heel of giving poor goals away at home strikes again and all of a sudden the crowd were just a little bit subdued and rightly so.
“I don’t know how many attempts Walsall had, probably not many, but that’s football.
“The game is still alive and there’s so much to play for. The game was never going to be decided today. There’s still so much more football left in this game.”
