Walsall striker Alex Nicholls is hoping his display after coming off the bench against Crewe will have earned him a start at Southend’s Roots Hall tomorrow.
Saddlers’ lack of goals recently has contributed to a run of five games without a win and Nicholls is hoping to be given the chance to change all that when they take on their play-off rivals.
“I’m not going to say my contribution against Crewe will get me a start against Southend,” Nicholls said.
“But it’s put me in a better position than I was in last week.
“I hadn’t really been in the team for the last couple of matches, so I just tried to knuckle down and try and get back in it and I managed to do that and I’ve taken my chance when it’s been presented to me.”
Nicholls is well aware of the importance of the clash and aims to contribute to a Saddlers victory which would see them move to within two points of the Shrimpers.
“We’re at a pivotal moment in the season now with us and Southend being so close in and around the play-offs,” Nicholls added.
“And hopefully I’ll be able to play a bigger part than I did on Monday and try and bring the three points back.
“We’re travelling down tonight and staying overnight, so the preparation is going to be first class and the manager and the physio team are giving us the best chance to perform, so I don’t see why we can’t get the three points and keep pushing for a play-off place.”
Nicholls also revealed that their morale has been boosted by a team meeting where Richard Money laid out his expectations for the remainder of the campaign.
“The whole team had a meeting after the game at Leeds and the manager told us what he expected for the rest of the season,” Nicholls said.
“We all agreed because we weren’t sure we were all pushing in the same direction at the same time. But after that meeting we all knew where we were going and we’re going to give it a really good push to make the play-offs.
“The manager singled out the things that we were doing well in the middle of the season that got us in the play-off places in the first instance and we weren’t really doing that as well during the last couple of games, so it just got us back on track and we’re all pushing in the right direction and we’re going to give it a really good go.”
Saddlers have a strong recent record against Southend – their only defeat in the last 12 encounters between the two sides, stretching back to 1983, came at the Banks’s in October and Money is able to welcome back Mark Bradley and Richard Taundry to the squad after international duty and suspension respectively.
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