Hutch going on the attack

Boss Chris Hutchings today fired a rocket at his Walsall hitmen after labelling their goal tally "mediocre."

Darren Byfield's opener in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Carlisle was his 10th of the campaign while Troy Deeney has 14 and Steve Jones 10. But, despite three players in double figures, Hutchings believes they need to up their ratio and isn't happy with the return.

He said: "It's mediocre. If you get 10 to 15 goals it's just mediocre. If you get 15-20 people start looking and think 'he's worth having a look at' and if you get 20 you will be looked at.

"Older professionals like Darren have never got 20 goals a season but next year that's got to be his target.

"We've obviously got to create and in the last few games we have created, we've just got to make sure we tuck them away. Against Hartlepool we had five or six chances and we took three. On Saturday we had seven good chances and we didn't take them all.

"That's what we need to do. We need to polish up on that and hopefully we can score more next week."

Jason Price equalised on the half-hour and the Saddlers had to ride out heavy first-half pressure from the hosts, but Hutchings was pleased.

"You need a bit of luck and to be dogged. We sorted one or two things out at half-time and we were better in the second half," he said.

"Sometimes it's tight and you lose 1-0 but others are open and you win 4-3. You take the rough with the smooth but it's always nice to be stubborn at the back."

By Nick Mashiter