Walsall Head Coach Michael Flynn sees similarities between his team and Saturday’s opponents Leyton Orient.
The Saddlers will be looking to bounce back from last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Salford when they take on Richie Wellens’ men who have improved since his arrival.
Flynn hopes his side can continue their strong home form having won their last four at the Banks’s Stadium.
The O’s will provide a tough test having won three in a row before their midweek defeat to Oldham Athletic and Flynn has not been surprised by their change of fortunes and is expecting another difficult challenge.
“I’m expecting a tough game to be honest,” he said.
“Leyton Orient have improved under Richie but I think they’re like us, they’ve underachieved this season. They’ve got a strong, competitive squad and Richie knows the league very well so there’s no wonder they’ve had an upturn in form and it will be another tough game.
“I said when I first came, we want to make it a fortress (at the Banks’s Stadium), we’ve had a good start since I’ve been here with the home games and we want to continue.
“There’s no given right because we’re at home that we’re going to win the game so we’ve got to do the game plan that we’ve worked on and we’ve got to execute without any switching off or lapses in concentration.”
A handful of first team players featured in a reserve match on Tuesday and helped the Saddlers to a 3-2 victory over Fleetwood Town and the Head Coach praised the attitude of the senior players involved.
One of the players to feature was Zak Mills who played 45 minutes after recovering from an injury.
Flynn was pleased to see Mills get valuable minutes under his belt and was able to provide a fresh update on Reece Devine and Donervon Daniels, who limped off with a hamstring injury at Salford last weekend.
“Reece Devine is training today,” Flynn confirmed.
“We’re going to be missing Donervon after his injury last week so it’s nice to have some numbers back, just wish it was a completely full squad.
“I spoke to Jamie and Mat (after Tuesday’s game) as well and they said the attitude of the players, especially the pros because it’s late on in the season going to Fleetwood away and they can feel sorry for themselves but their attitudes were exceptional.
“They helped the younger players as well and it’s good that they got minutes and it’s always nice to win as well.”
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