'Back to ourselves' David Okagbue reflects on Walsall's recent revival

Walsall ended a 13-match winless run by beating local rivals Crewe 1-0 at Gresty Road but celebrations were dashed when Bradford City pipped them to promotion via a dramatic late winner. 

That consigned the Saddlers to the play-offs but they made the best possible start in the first leg with a 2-0 win over Chesterfield at the SMH Group Stadium on Sunday. 

And Okagbue feels as if the team have been back to themselves after a poor second half in the regular season.

"We had a few days off. We had our awards night where everyone got together and we came back into training on the Tuesday," Okagbue explained. 

"We were all together, everyone knew the situation that we were in and we had to forget about the league campaign and starting afresh basically. 

"Going into the two games, we knew what we had to do and we've started really well in the first leg."

"Straight after the [Crewe] game, nobody really would've looked at that. But then watching the game back, we realised how good we can be. 

"I thought we were back to ourselves, getting clean sheets again and defending well. 

"So that was a massive boost going into the play-offs." 

Okagbue, who joined permanently last summer following a fruitful loan spell from Stoke City in the previous campaign, has made 49 appearances so far this term. 

And the Irishman would love to crown the season with a trip to Wembley, although he is not willing to get too ahead of himself just yet.

"That would be a massive achievement. Especially for everyone's career, it could do wonders," he added.

"Making your family proud and having everyone's families there, it would be a great day, but we don't want to look too far ahead yet."