Jon Whitney: Walsall have the fight to go up

Boss Jon Whitney believes Walsall showed the fight needed to win automatic promotion after watching his side beat West Midlands rivals Shrewsbury Town.

Goals from Kieron Morris and Rico Henry secured a 2-1 victory at the Banks's Stadium, with former Walsall defender Mat Sadler on target for the visitors.

The victory saw Whitney's side give the perfect response to the 4-0 loss at Bradford with the result securing their spot in the League One play-offs.

But it also reignited hopes the Saddlers could win automatic promotion, with Whitney's men three points behind second placed Burton Albion with two games left to play.

He said: "We are still in with a shout of automatic promotion and we believe we can do it.

"We were so disappointed Saturday but we showed our resilience, we showed our character so credit to the players, credit to my staff and credit to the fans.

"We showed people what we are about with our high tempo passing, we got between the lines. But we also we had that guile defensively which got us the win.

"This team has got guts, they showed that against Shrewsbury and I completely believe in them."

Whitney was bold in his selection with the boss starting goal scorer Morris in central midfield alongside Romaine Sawyers with fellow wingers Milan Lalkovic and Anthony Forde also included from the off.

The Walsall chief was pleased with how his players adapted to the changes, adding: "We wanted to get goals onto the pitch. We wanted the players who get themselves in goal scoring positions.

"Shrewsbury put us under pressure late on and pushed three or four up top. But our game management was really good, we kept the ball really well and we deserved the win."

Whitney admitted the atmosphere inside the stadium was nervy for the last 20 minutes, but he believes that is a good thing.

He added: "You could sense there was a bit of tension but isn't it great to have a bit of tension at the Banks's Stadium?

"It means we are playing for something and we haven't had that for a while. This team will never give up and we will give absolutely everything to finish in that top two."