Walsall boss Michael Flynn said his side “murdered” Carlisle United in the second half and fully deserved their late victory.

The Saddlers hit the Blues with two goals in the closing stages to win the FA Cup second round tie 2-1.

Ryan Edmondson’s first-half goal had put United on course for progress before Tomas Holy’s error let in Andy Williams – Douglas James-Taylor then winning it in added time.

It was a sixth straight home win for in-form Walsall and Flynn, speaking to the BBC after the game, said: “We would have lost it in September. Whether we played them off the park second half…I always think of the West Ham Under-21s game [a 1-0 defeat in the Papa John’s Trophy in August]…

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“We absolutely murdered them second half. We put in over 30 crosses into the box and didn’t get on the end of one of them.

“You start thinking, ‘Is it one of those days? Thankfully it wasn’t because now we have a bit more maturity’”.

Flynn highlighted the tactical changes he made at half-time and in the second half as his side got on top of Carlisle.

“We knew where we could hurt them. We weren’t really at it [in the first half],” he said.

“I’ve had a lot of players struggling today, in the starting XI. I couldn’t really change it around as much as I wanted, because I know what’s at stake – the prize money for the club, the lure of a possible big draw.

“If I’m honest it’s a game we didn’t need. There are a couple of players who weren’t right today and it showed first half.

“We made the decision to change it, we went to a four, then a three, then went 3-3-4..there were a load of things we were trying to do.

“Thankfully it paid off and Andy and Douglas got us the goals I thought we thoroughly deserved second half.”

Walsall will be ball number 63 in Monday night’s third round draw when Premier League clubs come into the competition.