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"I think we lost the game in the right sort of way and we came here on the back of a good run. We were disappointed with the first goal because we were caught out and it was a good time for them to score and a bad time for us to concede.
"The second goal might have been offside but I changed things around and we got back into it. We created chances and I didn’t see many leaving before the 90 minutes were up which is unusual in football these days.
"But we are improving and in previous seasons we would have come here and it would have been a foregone conclusion."
Lee wasn’t happy though at the injury picked up by Martin O’Connor that saw him substituted after 17 minutes, "Martin is our most influential player and a vital part of the way we play. We haven’t got another player to fill his role, so his absence was a big blow to us.
"I like aggressive, contact football but the tackle on Martin was not part and parcel of that. It was a very bad, high tackle that amazingly went unpunished by the referee."
Stan, aware that there were players carrying injuries was pleased with the performance and said after watching the game from the stand,
"I sat on the front row of the directors’ box and I didn’t like it at all, it was crap.
"I thought we were a little anxious in the last ten minutes or so but they were humping a lot of stuff in. But nevertheless we are creating chances and not taking them.
"We scored a nice goal, the skip put it through and Robbie took it well and then we got the first goal of the second half.
"In fairness to them Lee Briscoe and Tony Grant are both carrying injuries and Paul Weller I had to bring back today and Alan Moore is also unavailable with injury. But we battled through and got a good result and there’s a lot more to come.
"All in all it’s a good day’s work and we got three points and entertained everybody but not perhaps as we would have liked in the last ten or fifteen minutes."
Meanwhile acting boss Scott Atkinson added,
"I was slightly disappointed because I thought we could have had three or four in the second half.
"We didn't take our chances but I am happy to extend the unbeaten run to ten games and we have our 50 points target. We have to crack on from there.
"It’s a pity it wasn’t on the magic lantern to give me more exposure."
Skipper Steve Davis was delighted to get on the scoresheet for the first time in almost fourteen months and said,
"At last I have got a goal and it was one that I could not miss," he said. "When I put it in I was wondering whether I was going to be given offside. I got an assist as well so I guess that would be a few points in Fantasy League. I was delighted to have set one up and hopefully there is more to come than that.
"I thought Coxy and Arthur were outstanding at the back today. We knew it was important to get a result against Walsall because we have got some tough games coming up against the likes of Leicester, Ipswich and Portsmouth. But having said that, I can't see any reason why we can't continue the run and keep pushing up the league."
Burnley on the up
Ron Clarke (Sunday Times)
THE agony of August continues to be nothing more than a distant memory for a buoyant Burnley, who maintained their impressive rise up Division One. Having lost their first four games in the first month of the season, they have now managed to remain unbeaten in the 10 that followed.
The momentum was maintained against a Walsall team who themselves have shown great consistency in recent weeks. This was their first reversal in five games. Indeed Walsall, for whom the word cosmopolitan is now strangely appropriate, fielded a team containing no fewer than seven nationalities but left it just a little late after affording their hosts a two-goal cushion.
It was the nations of Brazil and Portugal that united in the early stages for the visitors as Junior flicked on for Jorge Leitao, only for the Portuguese man to fire wildly over the bar.
Burnley chose a more direct domestic approach to take the lead with Steve Davis launching the ball up field for Robbie Blake to lob over James Walker in the Walsall goal just before the interval.
The lead should have been secured earlier as Ian Moore rounded the keeper but chose to shoot from an acute angle rather than pass to Blake who had no defender anywhere near him. Moore’s shot sailed over.
Having made one, Davis then scored one midway through the second period by getting the touch to Glen Little’s cross.
That should have been it, but Colin Lee’s side are made of sterner stuff these days and they managed to contrive a nerve-racking finale courtesy of a simple Gary Birch header. He had been left unmarked in the penalty area.
Burnley’s response was to withdraw Blake in favour of midfield anchorman Lee Briscoe as they were forced into a belated rearguard action. But there was still time for a breakaway as Moore raced up field only to see his neat shot bounce tantalisingly close to the target.