Walsall captain sweats on future

Walsall captain Mark Hughes is not taking his future at the Banks's Stadium for granted but revealed his desire to stay as D-day approaches.

The squad find out who will be offered new deals on Monday – after Saturday's final game of the season with Milton Keynes Dons – and Hughes is one of those out of contract.

After a frustrating recent spell on the sidelines through suspension and injury, the 23-year-old says he isn't guaranteed fresh terms just because he is captain.

He said: "I'd never think that, I've hardly played in the last few months because of injuries and whatever so I'm not the sort of person who would take things for granted.

"I'll keep pushing, keep going and do what's best for me. There's no such thing as taking the foot off the pedal. We've all got lives to live and have to pay for stuff.

"It's going to be hard because lot of people need contracts and I don't know what the chairman wants next year.

"All we can do is do our talking on the pitch and in the last few weeks we've done that."

Goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin, Dwayne Mattis and Rhys Weston are among those out of contract in June and Hughes admits the players are aware of their situations.

He said: "No one knows what's going to happen next year and these last few games we've all been playing for our futures.

"Hopefully I can get other people a contract, if it's not me, by helping them out on the pitch."

But defender Hughes, a free transfer from Northampton last summer, wants to stay at the club and build on his 27 appearances this season.

He said: "It's been good, I've enjoyed it from day one. The training facilities are second to none, they surprised me when I first came.

"There aren't many teams in the league or the Championship who have the training facilities we have, it's a nice pleasant place to come and work.

"It's a good club to play for and you go into training every day looking forward to it."