Keep it up urges Walsall boss
Walsall manager Chris Hutchings has warned his players they have no "divine right" to maintain their unbeaten run.
Saturday's 1-1 draw at Brentford means the Saddlers have gone four games without defeat, but they struggled to impose themselves in a sluggish game.
Ben Strevens put the hosts ahead as the Saddlers' defence went AWOL before Steve Jones salvaged a point in the second half with his sixth goal in eight games.
While pleased with his side's character, boss Hutchings knows they must keep pressing.
He said: "We've got no divine right to come and play well, we have to work at that. Brentford did and they'll be saying they played better in the first half than the second.
"The second half was a lot better, we scored and had a couple of good opportunities. If our final ball had been better then we could have capitalised.
"We were away from home and I give the boys credit for coming back from a goal behind, that's four unbeaten now and we're on a nice little run."
Tomorrow's visit of Oldham represents another chance to close the gap on the top six and Hutchings will demand his 10th placed side keep performing.
He said: "You always put pressure on yourself – win, lose or draw – and if you're losing you put pressure on yourself to stop that losing run. You put pressure on yourself and challenge the players to see how far we can keep going and get up the table. It's important to keep any run going when you're unbeaten.
"We're trying to get on that run of consecutive wins. We've had a couple and had a draw away from home and we're back at home tomorrow.
"They could have had a couple of goals in the first half and Clayton Ince pulled off a couple of saves but it was so important to keep the run going.
"Winning or drawing breeds confidence. We didn't keep a clean sheet which we're disappointed about but credit to the lads."
Hutchings had to give his side a half-time pep-talk to inspire his troops at Griffin Park.
He said: "They caused us problems in the first half, we had a few harsh words and sorted a few things out. They had the better of the first half. We were a bit slow out the blocks and they caused us problems. The two strikers caused our centre backs problems and so did their pace out wide.
"In the first half they were better than us. Once we scored the goal we came into it more and defended a lot better. We had to, otherwise we would have got beaten."
Bees manager Andy Scott expressed disappointment after his team squandered the lead.
He said: "The goal we conceded typified us in the second half really. We had chances to get hold of the ball up front, in midfield and at the back and we didn't.
"That was indicative of what we were doing in the second half. We never really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck.
"We were excellent in the first half and passed it well."
