Walsall boss Michael Flynn said his walking wounded Walsall players got their reward after edging out promotion hopefuls Sutton to continue their recent revival.
The 1-0 victory, Walsall’s third in six since Flynn took over, came via Conor Wilkinson’s first-half penalty to lift the Saddlers 12 points above the League Two drop zone in 16th.
Wilkinson slammed home from the spot after being fouled by Joe Kizzi in the 33rd minute to settle a game of few chances at the Banks’s Stadium.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be the prettiest of games – Sutton like to get the ball into the box as quick as possible and cause the opposition to make mistakes,” said Flynn.
“They have wingers who want to constantly put crosses in the box for their frontmen and we defended it superbly today – the players stood up and won their individual battles today.
“But I thought we played some good stuff too, especially second half – we created a lot of good opportunities which could have got us a second goal.
“The most pleasing thing for me today is we’ve got Hayden White, who has had Covid and been really struggling, Manny Monthe has had swelling on his knee and Tyrese Shade was ill yesterday.
“I had three players today who, if we had a deeper squad, might not have started. Those three were colossal today and showed an unbelievable character and commitment to the cause.”
Sutton, who reached the EFL Trophy in their first season as a Football League club in midweek, were also beset by injuries.
Goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis tweaked his calf in the warm-up while striker Donovan Wilson and midfielder Harry Beautyman limped off before the break.
Richie Bennett headed their best chance wide late on but Gray was unhappy about the penalty decision as his side slipped to seventh.
“I was really pleased with the first-half performance,” said Gray.
“I felt we were certainly the team on top in the first half.
“I’m just really disappointed with the goal because I feel it’s a really soft penalty as far as I’m concerned. We were a bit disappointed to come in behind and didn’t feel we deserved to be.
“Even after the week we’ve had and the bodies we’ve lost, we were pushing at the end and certainly had a few moments to get something out of the game which I thought was the least we deserved.
“Sometimes you don’t feel you get the rub of the green on the day – with Dean injured in the warm-up, with Donovan and Harry in the first half, with the penalty decision.
“We feel things haven’t gone right for us today but we are not going to cry about it, we will dust ourselves down.”