Momentum is key word for experienced defender...
SADDLERS’ defender, James Chambers, has called for his team-mates to maintain their new-found momentum ahead of Saturday’s game with Peterborough United.After an inconsistent start, Dean Smith’s side has won three of the last four games and Chambers thinks the team is finally fulfilling its early season potential.
“We’ve performed for most of the season but we’re now seeing the results come in as well,” he commented. “I think we’ve found some form and momentum is the key word at the moment.
“As a defender it’s nice to keep the ball out the back of the net but it’s not just us at the back, we achieve that as a team.
“There’s a lot of hard work going on in front of us, a lot of closing down and cutting off angles to the front men which all bodes well.”
The last time The Saddlers took on Peterborough, on an extremely wet and windy Valentine's night, Chambers deputised as a makeshift centre-back, a position he has made his own this campaign.
The 33 year-old has formed an impressive partnership with Paul Downing at the heart of a defence, which has kept seven clean sheets this term.
Ten years the senior, Chambers provides the experience and has heaped praised on his defensive partner.
“I had a good partnership with Paul when I was playing at right-back, but since I moved into the middle it’s got even better,” he added. “The communication between us is good and we get on well off-the-pitch as well which really helps.
“We’ve both got very different attributes and we compliment each other well so hopefully we can continue to keep the opposition out.”
Whilst The Saddlers are enjoying their best run of form so far this season, Saturday’s visitors are going through a testing period having recently dropped out of the play-off spots despite winning half of their League games.
“They won a lot of games early on so I think the fact that they’ve lost the last three can go either way,” Chambers insists. “When you go through a bad run sometimes it can kick-start you back into action but on the other hand if we play well we can benefit from it.
“They’re a strong side and I think most teams believe they’re in a false position in the League.
“For us, when you consider some of the performances we put in earlier in the season, we never got the results to go with them.
“We’re the only ones that can do something about it. We have to perform on Saturday, hopefully come away with three points and start to move up this table.”
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