We have confidence: Walsall ace

Walsall striker Alex Nicholls believes that the squad’s youngsters have the confidence to fire them into the play-offs.

The 20-year-old came off the bench on Saturday to hit the winner in the convincing victory over Swindon and he is one of the Saddlers promising crop of young players that Nicholls believes are starting to come into their own - at just the right time for the play-off push.

“You can see the confidence in all the youngsters now,” Nicholls said.

“When they first came into the first team there were a lot of rough edges but I think the whole group is filing off those rough edges now and starting to be more confident and believe more in their own ability.

“There’s a positive future at the club - if we keep playing the way we are then I don’t see why we can’t strive to achieve promotion this season.

“If we win the rest of our games we’re going to be in the play-offs, so we’re just taking each game as it comes and going into every game with a positive attitude.”

Saddlers manager Richard Money enforced the belief that the young players are finding their feet at League One level.

“One thing that’s happened over the last two or three months is that people like Nicholls and Deeney have stepped up to the next level,” Money said.

“Having those two coming off the bench as opposed to starting on Saturday, I think they showed everyone what they’re about.

“When the game is getting stretched, the last thing you want I would suggest is Alex Nicholls running in behind you.”

Nicholls believes that Walsall can continue the form displayed on Saturday when they visit Luton Town at the weekend and he is confident of a result.

“Luton are a good team and it’s going to be a hard place to go,” he said.

“A lot of things have happened there throughout the season, but they’ve been on a good run of form as well and it will be a hard game.

“But as with the Swindon game, if we play to our maximum then we shouldn’t have any problem in bringing the points home.”