Dwayne Mattis hails Walsall character after fightback against Brentford

Nov 23 2009 by Brian Halford, Birmingham Mail

DWAYNE Mattis hailed the character Walsall showed to fight back for a point at Brentford, but admitted they were “not at the races” in the first half.

“We knew it would be a battle because they have brought in a lot of players on loan,” the midfielder said.

“And half-time came at a good time for us because we got together and said ‘look, this isn’t good enough’ and sorted out a few things.

“The lads showed good character. In the first half we were not at the races but had a rollicking at half-time and in the second showed what we are all about. We could have won in the end.”

Walsall’s attention now turns to tomorrow night’s home league match against Oldham. But their dominant second half at Brentford leaves the momentum in their favour for next Saturday’s return to Griffin Park in the FA Cup.

And while the Saddlers are in a settled phase, Brentford manager Andy Scott faces a busy week ascertaining whether his cup team can include loanees John Bostock (Spurs), Wojcicech Szczesny (Arsenal), Pim Balkestein (Ipswich) and Lewis Price (Derby).

“We’ll speak to their clubs this week to see if they can play in the cup,” said Scott. “I think it’s unlikely that Pim will as he is quite close to their first team.”