Walsall goalkeeper Carl Rushworth is looking forward to the prospect of a return to action with the squad in a confident mood.
The Saddlers are set to face Newport County at the Banks’s Stadium on New Year’s Day and will be looking to start 2022 how they ended 2021.
Rushworth insists the team will be well prepared for the challenge the Exiles will provide and will be heading into the game in good spirits despite the lengthy period without playing.
“It feels like ages since we’ve played, three or four weeks since our last game,” he said.
“Colchester was our last game so a 3-0 win, the lads are going to be confident going into it, especially after all this training that we’ve had.
“The gaffer will mention more in detail about what we’re going to be coming up against and how we want to play against them, use their weaknesses and we’ll try to go at them that way and get the one up on them.
“I think, especially from the last game, the two goals that they scored were quite direct goals. One was the cross and the other one started off with a throw and a cross to the back post so I know they’re going to want to put it in the box when they can.”
Rushworth is now half way through his loan at the Banks’s Stadium having joined from Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer and the 20-year-old has been pleased with the progress so far.
“I think it’s been good,” he commented.
“At the start I was a lot busier but I knew it was going to be like that with a new team and we were going to be building up slowly.
“Now we’re at this point half way through, I feel as though the team has started to progress together and play well together so I’m not as busy.
“We’re getting the points that we needed so I think that it’s a positive overall that I had the exposure at the start and now I’m getting the game time that I need.”