Goalkeeper says the players remain positive...
Neil Etheridge insists Walsall still believe they can overcome Barnsley in their League One play-off semi-final.The Saddlers are right up against it heading into tonight’s second leg after a 3-0 first-leg defeat at Oakwell on Saturday.
But Etheridge says he and his teammates are refusing to give up hope.
“Tonight we’ve got an opportunity to rectify what happened at the weekend,” said Etheridge.
“We’re still positive that we can do ourselves some justice and we know we’re not out of the tie yet.
“Many times this season, we’ve bounced back.
“Whenever results have gone against us, the players have reacted in the right way which is a massive credit to the players. Now we have just got to go out and play our game.
“We’ve played extremely well throughout the season and have won a lot of games when there has been massive pressure on us.
“Look at the Gillingham game. The Fleetwood game. And, against Port Vale, we won 5-0 away from home. They are great performances.
"We hope to take those performances into tonight and we still believe it's possible."
"We hope to take those performances into tonight and we still believe it's possible."
Although Walsall need to score at least three goals this evening, Etheridge believes Walsall can’t afford to go gung-ho.
“We’ve got to go into the game like every other game this season,” added the Philippines international.
“If they get a goal, you could argue it’s game over so we can’t go cavalier and leave ourselves exposed at the back.
“But we’ll be looking for an early goal.
“There’s still 90 minutes of football and they didn’t score their first goal until the 44th minute. We need to put the pressure on but in a way that is right for this tie.”