Gaffer pleased with his side's consistency...
Jon Whitney has praised his players’ consistency and challenged them to maintain their performance levels for the remaining 12 games, starting with Oldham tomorrow.The Saddlers have lost only two of the last nine games and the boss feels recent results have bred confidence in the squad.
He said: “If you’re performing well then you keep that confidence level, regardless of the result.
“I know in an ideal world we’d like to come off the back of a win or a point, but I think it’s important we know we’re performing really well and we’re consistent.
“But for now we need to make sure we’re ready for a bit of a scrap on Saturday.”
The visiting Latics lie just outside the bottom four and are firmly in a relegation fight, although they have seen an upturn in fortunes of late.
Since the appointment of John Sheridan in January, Oldham have won six of their eleven league games.
They have dragged themselves from rock bottom to 20th place, doubling their points tally in the process, and are unbeaten in their last five.
“It is going to be a really tough game against an Oldham team who are resurgent at the moment," Whitney commented.
“I know John Sheridan and his family. He’s very well thought of in the game. We’re both probably a bit old school which means we know how to win games.
“He’s a good, shrewd manager. He’s got players who know how to win games and they can scrap.
“We’ll respect them for what they are but we’ve got to concentrate on what we do and how we play.”
With a four-match winning streak at the Banks’s Stadium, Walsall are on the verge five consecutive home wins for the since 2012/13.
And after the postponed Chesterfield match was rearranged for next Tuesday, Whitney is glad the Saddlers still have the chance to host back-to-back matches.
The 46-year-old added: “These two games I’ve planned for us to get some momentum, and let the fans see us for two consecutive home games.
“We don’t come here just to train every day because what’s the point in doing it? You’ve got to then be tested.
“I want to be tested against their manager and see how I come out. As a club we want to compete against other clubs and see if we can come out on top.”