The Walsall boss spoke after his first win at Stadium MK on Saturday

Mat Sadler saw two different sides of his Walsall team during their 1-0 win over MK Dons on Saturday, and he was impressed with both.

Comfortably the better side for much of the first-half at Stadium MK, it was not until six minutes into the second which saw them take the lead via a deflected Charlie Lakin shot. It sparked Dons into life and the hosts did everything but score as the Saddlers defended vehemently to keep their clean sheet en route to victory.

“We saw a few different sides to our game, which I loved,” said Sadler afterwards. “For the first 35 minutes, we were fantastic in possession, moved across the pitch really well and had a couple of really good chances.

“In the second-half, I was delighted to see us score which was the least we deserved. After that, we showed a different side of us with our backs to the wall.”

Sadler, who worked with Dons boss Paul Warne while he was a player at Rotherham United, was full of praise for his opponents afterwards too, saying the squad put together at Stadium MK and the coaching staff make any result against them a good one.

He said: “We know with the players this club has, you’ll have your back to the wall at some point, especially when they throw on the players they throw on. It was a difficult challenge but we stood up to that.

“When you play against a team like this, they’ve got good players all over the pitch, the manager knows how he wants them to play, he is very good at it and they've had good results already, and are put together by a top coaching team, you know it would be a challenge.”