Walsall went down 2-0 to Bristol City in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.
Plucky Walsall were defeated 2-0 by Bristol City in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final at Wembley.
Goals from Aden Flint and Mark Little were enough to see off the Saddlers in front of a 72,315 crowd. Walsall came closest to scoring when Jordan Cook's left wing cross had to be tipped onto the bar by City keeper Frankie Fielding, but their inability to provide a cutting edge ultimately cost them dear.
Flint opened the scoring with a towering header from a Marlon Pack corner, climbing above the Walsall defence to power home his tenth goal of the campaign. Mark Little then doubled the advantage at the second attempt after Walsall keeper Richard O'Donnell kept out his initial header from Luke Freeman's cross.
Walsall never gave up despite being distinct second favourites against the League One leaders from the off and tried to pressure the Bristol side into making a mistake until the last. However, when they did get the ball into dangerous areas their crossing let them down, finding either the gloves of Fielding or the fans behind the goal.
While Walsall will no doubt feel disappointed that their Wembley adventure ended in failure, their fans and players can be proud that they represented the club well in its first trip to a final in the club's 127-year history, and can now look to build on that as they endeavour to improve on their 16th position in the table.
Here is some of the reaction from supporters on Twitter to the game at the home of English football...
.@VitalWalsall Losing 2-0 doesn't hurt. Playing without passion and desire does @WFCOfficial #JPTFinal #couldhavedonesomuchbetter
— Anna (@AnnaV_B) March 22, 2015
Lost to a very good team but still proud. Never thought I'd see the day I could see @WFCOfficial run out at Wembley #JPTFinal #BristolCity
— Sarah (@sarahforr) March 22, 2015
Gutted #saddlers #uts #JPTFinal
— delbir singh (@sikh_saddler) March 22, 2015
Great day out but it wasn't to be. #JPTFinal pic.twitter.com/VJGc5nXuv7
— Ian Savigar (@Bigsavi) March 22, 2015
Rubbish performance from the lads there,never got going and Luke freeman run the game #JPTFinal #walsallfc
— Lee Hardwick (@hardwick_lee) March 22, 2015
Well we gave it a go, hit the post might have changed it. Not to be. Bristol better team. But a great day out with the Saddlers. #jptfinal
— Boris Worrall (@BorisOrbitGroup) March 22, 2015
COMMENTS