Reich: Win vital to stay in touch

Marco Reich knows Walsall need to jump start their season with a win at Oldham Athletic or risk falling away from the pacesetters.

Saddlers slumped to a 3-0 defeat at home to MK Dons on Saturday and travel to Boundary Park tenth in League One, eight points off the play-offs with their game in hand at home to Swindon on Saturday.

Jimmy Mullen's men are seeking to arrest their alarming run of form, which has seen them win just two of their last 10 games and Reich knows they need to reignite their campaign.

The 30-year-old said: "You know what everyone says, you have to win the first game of a big tournament to get going and it is true. After these three games this week, we could be straight into the play-offs or we could say season over.

"Well not quite season over because there is still a long way to go but if you only get three points or four points it might not be good enough.

"There are still enough games to play and we are not even half way through but we need to improve."

Mullen watched their opponents in their 1-0 defeat to Cheltenham in the FA Cup first round replay last week, although they didn't have the double threat of Lee Hughes or former Walsall striker Darren Byfield, who both featured in the 2-1 win at Southend on Saturday.

Regardless who is playing for the Latics, who sit one place and one point off the top six, Mullen has demanded a response from his side after their dismal weekend showing.

He said: "We have got an important game against Oldham, so this group of players has got to respond, bounce back, go there and get a result."

"I was up there last Tuesday and watched them against Cheltenham and it was a game they shouldn't have lost, they should have won. They didn't have the likes of Hughes or Byfield but they will play against us.

"We have got to respond, we can't sit back and feel sorry for ourselves. We are tenth in the league and if we win on Tuesday and we have a home game on Saturday then we will see where we are."

Mullen has injury doubts over captain Stephen Hughes, Stephen Roberts, Clayton Ince and Jabo Ibehre but says they will not wallow in self pity if the key quartet are missing.

He said: "We have got to go with what we have got. The lads go out there and you can say we missed Roberts and Jabo on Saturday because they are big influences but we have got to get on with things."