Walsall: What's gone wrong? Jamille Matt on going from 12 points clear to third but League Two promotion still possible

It is the middle of January and Walsall have just beaten MK Dons 4-2 at home, shrugging off the departure of top scorer Nathan Lowe to parent club Stoke, to extend their lead at the top of League Two to 12 points. It is a matter of when, not if, they win the title.

Jamille Matt, Lowe’s 35-year-old strike partner, with 12 goals of his own this season, was forced off injured early on in the next game against Bradford. Walsall lost that one 3-0 and went on to win none of the next four. Now, they are on a run of 10 without a victory.

In fact, with just two wins in 17, Walsall, the once runaway leaders in League Two, rank bottom but one of the form table over the last three months. Their lead is gone. They are third now, only retaining their place in the automatic promotion spots on goal difference.

How has this happened? It is about more than the loss of Lowe, that is for sure. It is tale of teams tweaking their approach against Walsall, of lost confidence and perhaps even playing with fear – thinking about what could go wrong rather than what could go right.

Few are better placed than Matt to understand the psychology of what is happening right now at Walsall. He did not play in the Football League until he was 23 years old, by which time he had already completed his degree in counselling psychology.

“It is not as easy as saying one thing has changed,” Matt tells Sky Sports. “Momentum works both ways. When it is going well, it is a snowball effect. When is the next game? You kind of ride a crest of a wave. But momentum can work the other way too.”

‘Confidence can take a knock’

He adds: “Confidence can take a knock. Before, if we had that bit of a knock, it was easier to kind of brush it off. But I can say it is not for the want of trying from the boys. Everyone has trained really hard.” Walsall are just trying to work their way through it.

“In football, you are taught that even if your confidence is low, you just keep pushing,” Matt explains. “You are still the same player whether your confidence is low or high so it is within your control to change it. That is where you refer back to your basics.

“When I think back to times when I have been low on confidence, I think, ‘right, what can I control?’ That is working hard in training, making sure I prepare. I think confidence comes from preparation. Keep doing the right things and confidence comes back.”

Maybe Walsall’s opponents changed their approach? “Maybe that is part of it. You are there to be shot at. We should see that as a compliment. Teams are aware of how good we can be and try to nullify our threats. But if we play to our best we are a right handful.

“Lowey was a really good player. Alongside that, you look at our team and it was maybe quite settled before Nathan went back to Stoke. I think that has played a part. We had that continuity of knowing who was playing, you struck up partnerships based on that.

“We have still got such a great group of players but we have missed others through injury, the likes of George Hall, who has been a big miss this season, and Jack Earing. Quite a few of the lads are coming back. We still believe that we have enough in the building.

“It is always fine lines in football. In hindsight, whatever is best is always after you have had the result. You should have done this or you should have done that. In the moment, I think it is about trying to stick to your principles and what has served you well.

“When we have played to our strengths this season and everyone has been on the front foot and everyone has been on the same page with that, I think that is when we have had our most positive results and teams have not been able to live with us.”

Experienced heads needed now

Matt is a likeable figure, an old head in the dressing room. That, blended with the youthful exuberance at Walsall, was seen as a reason for the success when things were going well. Matt, like Albert Adomah and Donervon Daniels, could guide the youngsters.

“These are lads who have been around a long time and played a lot of games, been through a lot. We are constantly having those conversations. That is part of why the squad is as close as it is. We are able to draw a line under things and move forward.”

Now, however, as wins elude Walsall, there is a concern that not enough of this squad are in their prime. Have they run out of legs? Only Bromley have had less of the ball in League Two. The intensity needed off the ball to make this work is hard to maintain.

Matt, who has already played 46 games this season in all competitions, 39 from the start, insists that he is fully fit and ready to attack the remaining fixtures. “I feel really good. There are times when I have felt it more than others during the season,” he says.

“I had a little injury a couple of months ago and came back earlier than expected but the knock-on effect is that it catches up with you a bit. But I feel like I have come out the other side of that now and I am feeling good and raring to go for the last four games.”

Speaking to Walsall boss Mat Sadler last summer, even before their astonishing run, he revealed that his son is now enamoured with all things Walsall – and was picking Matt in his England team. Does it help when you are the manager’s son’s favourite player?

“That is the first time that I have heard that, to be honest,” he laughs. “But the gaffer has been brilliant. He is a big family man and that is important. In the negative times, they are there to pick us up and they are also the driving force when times are good.”

Sadler under scrutiny? ‘I find it ridiculous’

Naturally, Sadler, who signed a new contract as recently as January, is under increasing scrutiny. Fan forums online even debate the merits of ditching him now in a desperate bid to change something – anything – to reverse their fortunes before it is too late.

Matt is not impressed. “Listen, I cannot speak highly enough of the gaffer. He has been unbelievable, not just with me but all the lads. It is the way that he handles things, the calming presence that he is.

“There have been times after a game and I am thinking, ‘I do not know what to say here’, and the gaffer always finds the right words.

“If he is under any scrutiny, I find it ridiculous because the job that he has done, coming in as a first-time manager… Again, it is about putting things in perspective. To be in the position that we have been in this season, that is what this club was crying out for.”

Local lad with a promotion dream

Perhaps Matt feels that more keenly than most. A career that has taken him from Kidderminster to Forest Green via Fleetwood and Plymouth, Blackpool, Grimsby and Newport, has brought him back to the beginning, when being a footballer was just a dream.

He went to school not far from the old training ground. “Sometimes we would have PE and the Walsall players would be there training as well. I never had the chance to play for Walsall growing up. Coming back to Walsall was a chance to come home,” he says.

“I think there are times when you do feel it more than others. But it is nice because when it is going well you get the messages saying, ‘proud of you’, and when things have not gone as well you also get the messages saying, ‘we are all behind you’.”

It is why promotion this season would feel different to the ones that he achieved before in his career, with Fleetwood and Forest Green. Because it is Walsall. And because of the mental resilience that the squad will need to show if they are to get over the line.

“All I have wanted is to achieve promotion with Walsall. This one would rank right at the top because even before a ball was kicked, I do not think we were much fancied by anyone, to be honest, apart from ourselves. So it is just about proving it to ourselves.

“We want to do it for everyone involved, including the supporters. We want to achieve something, finish it off and win promotion while working hard and sticking together. We want to make sure that all the hard work that we have put in has not been for nothing.”

‘We can still control the next game’

The big challenge now is to shift the mindset. After months of being the hunted, they are now the hunter. Many of the supporters seem to have lost hope and the recent form explains why. But one win could still change everything. The prize of promotion is still in sight.

“It is important to remember that when we all started playing football, these were the kind of moments that we played football for – to be in these positions,” says Matt. It is the kind of thinking that is going to be needed, to stay in the moment, to believe again.

“I have been in situations where you are fighting against relegation at this stage of the season. They are still pressure situations and I know which one I would rather be in. It is definitely this one. It is important to remember that and kind of put perspective on it.

“I think that sometimes, because the games do come thick and fast, you can lose perspective of that. It is just about getting that focus now. What has gone has gone. We cannot affect what has gone.

“But we can still control the next game…”

Watch Walsall vs Harrogate this Good Friday on Sky Sports+; kick-off 3pm

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