Skipper confident Saddlers can bounce back...
SKIPPER, Andy Butler believes that the team can bounce back from last weekend’s heavy defeat at Coventry as we prepare to make a return to home soil with the visit of Yeovil Town on Saturday (kick-off 3.00pm).
The popular central defender will be forced to sit out the visit of The Glovers having received his marching orders at the Ricoh Arena.
“As a team we have worked hard this week to ensure that we can bounce back in the right way,” he said. “Yeovil Town are in a similar situation to us in terms of budget, but they have done well. We know that they will come here well-organised and make life difficult for us.
“But, that said, we know what we are capable of and there is no reason why we can’t go out there and put on the kind of performance that we saw earlier in the season.
“It turned out to be a bad day at the office at Coventry last weekend. It all started rather well with us taking the lead and playing some decent stuff in the opening 20 minutes or so. But then a mad ten minutes completely turned things on their head and we struggled after that.
“We know that we let ourselves down and I would like to apologise for the red card. I should have known better but with decisions going against us, I let frustration get the better of me and ended up paying the price.”
Butler went on to praise young on-loan goalkeeper, Aaron McCarey, who has impressed following his move from Wolves last month.
“He’s been good,” he added. “He sweeps round the back four really well. For his age he’s very commanding which, for a goalkeeper is important and he’s a good talker.
“It keeps Groffy [David Grof] and Wacka [Jimmy Walker] on their toes. They are fighting for their positions because we don’t want players getting comfortable and taking it easy. We want them to be pushed to get the best out of each other, which hopefully is what we can do as a squad.
“It’s going to be a squad game now more than ever and with so many matches coming up in a short space of time, we need everyone pulling together in the same direction.
“With all the points up for grabs, it could turn our season around.”