Walsall captain issues rallying cry

Walsall captain Mark Hughes has issued a rallying call for his team-mates to reignite the club's stuttering season.

The Saddlers slipped 10 points behind the League One play-offs after a 2-1 defeat to Brighton at the Banks's Stadium on Saturday.

It was their first game in a month after the big freeze, but defeat made it four matches without a win as they slipped to 11th in the table.

Hughes reckons the team must start proving their worth to ensure the play-offs don't drift out of sight.

He said: "It's how you react. We haven't had the best of runs in the last four games, we've lost a few so it's time to roll the sleeves up, stand up and be counted.

"We've seen the comebacks we've made this year, but we need to start games well. At home we're giving teams a head start, we can't keep coming back all the time and we know we've got to do better.

"We've got a lot of games coming up, February is a massive month and there are eight games which could decide what is going to happen.

"You've got to stick at it, but Saturday was a blow."

Glenn Murray and Nicky Forster's first half goals won it for Brighton, despite Matt Richards' 26th minute leveller against his former club.

Hughes is struggling to find the positives in defeat.

He said: "There aren't many positives we can take out of the game. You look at every game and you want to see the positives, but it was one of those days.

"Their strikers have scored 20 odd goals between them and I've played against Forster millions of times. He's bright, clever and their front two won the game for them."

But the 23-year-old rejected the suggestion the Saddlers could blame their poor opening on the fact they hadn't played in four weeks.

He said: "It's a game of football so you can't use it as an excuse. They are fighting down there and we were up for the game, but we didn't seem to be at it in the first-half.

"There are no bad teams in the league and we're at a level where we get punished. But at least we've had a game now."