Walsall manager Mat Sadler admitted his side had to be resilient on their way to a crushing 4-0 win over Colchester.
Jamie Jellis fired the Saddlers into a half-time lead and they wrapped up the points with Albert Adomah scoring and Jack Earing adding a late brace.
“There were some tough times in that game, especially in the first half,” Sadler admitted.
“I talk about winning in different ways all the time and we had to be really resilient in that period against one of the best attacking outlets in the division.
“We knew we were going to have to come into a real physical battle. During those periods we did really well as a team to ride that out. We won so many headers in our penalty area, clearances, tracked runners, won tackles and blocked crosses.
“I know it says 4-0 on the scoresheet and it was a really impressive performance from us, but the real work and the proper blood and guts then paved the way for the ending.”
The visitors dominated the opening 10 minutes but failed to test Tommy Simkin in the Saddlers goal and the first real effort of note came from Walsall midfielder Ryan Stirk which flew wide in the 18th minute.
The breakthrough came after 39 minutes when central defender Taylor Allen collected a throw-in inside his own half and then lofted a long ball forward to Jellis, who darted in on goal and fired past goalkeeper Matt Macey.
The Saddlers started the second half strongly with Jellis forcing a decent diving save from Macey before visiting skipper Tom Flanagan had an effort blocked at the other end.
But it was the home side who looked the more threatening and it came as no surprise when they doubled their lead in the 79th minute when a low ball into the centre from Connor Barrett was turned in by substitute Adomah.
Fellow replacement Earing wrapped things up with two goals in the final two minutes. He drilled home from the edge of the area after Macey palmed away Nathan Lowe’s shot and he bagged his second after the U’s were caught on the break.
Colchester manager Danny Cowley said: “It was a case of one step forward and two steps back. We were the better team in the first half but they have scored a great goal just before half-time.
“But in the second half I thought we came out really flat and devoid of energy. We let the game drift. They then get the second goal and after that we have committed football suicide at the end – we were just so open. I know we had to get back in it but you have to do it with a level of intelligence.”
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