Gerrard set on keeping spot

Walsall defender Anthony Gerrard today insisted it will take 'a bulldozer' to shift him from the team as he targeted an extended Saddlers contract.

Gerrard and fellow centre-back Scott Dann are under pressure for their places due to the return to full fitness of Ian Roper.

But Gerrard, in the last year of his current contract, is in no mood to step aside for the more experienced man.

"I'm in the team and I'm not going to move over for anyone," he said.

"They will have to get a bulldozer to get me out of the team.

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Gerrard and fellow centre-back Scott Dann are under pressure for their places due to the return to full fitness of Ian Roper.

But Gerrard, in the last year of his current contract, is in no mood to step aside for the more experienced man.

"I'm in the team and I'm not going to move over for anyone," he said.

"They will have to get a bulldozer to get me out of the team.

"This the last season of my contract and I need to play to impress the club and to impress other clubs if it comes to that at the end of the season.

"I'm here and I'm a Walsall player and hopefully I'll continue to be but I know I've got to prove myself this season.

"The only way I'll do that by playing games and staying in the team."

Gerrard and Dann have formed an impressive all-scouse partnership at the heart of the Saddlers defence in the opening two games of the season with Roper confined to the substitutes' bench with a lack of fitness.

And Gerrard, aged 20, has revealed that an early-season 'rocket' from manager Richard Money helped spur him on to his current run of form.

"I started pre-season really sluggishly but I had a bit of a rocket up the backside from the manager which is probably what I needed."

The centre-back conundrum is just one of the big decisions facing Money ahead of tomorrow's game.

He must also decide whether to start with Rhys Weston, who is now fit for his debut after a calf injury.