Chris Hutchings backs Walsall fight

Walsall boss Chris Hutchings has backed the Saddlers to beat the drop and urged his troops to keep on fighting.

The manager has issued a rallying cry ahead of tonight's trip to free-scoring Sheffield Wednesday. with his players bidding to close the five-point gap to safety.

They go to Hillsborough aiming to build on Saturday's morale-boosting 2-1 win over Carlisle and, despite still being bottom, Hutchings insisted they will survive if they keep pushing.

He said: "I've always had confidence we can get out of trouble but the lads have to perform like they did on Saturday time and again - if they don't they'll struggle.

"They've shown what they can do and they've got to do it again. Every game is important, there's no getting away from it and tonight is as important as last week.

"We've had two wins, one in the cup and one in the league, we've got another game tonight and that's what we're focusing on."

Hutchings pointed to the squad's summit meeting on Friday as a catalyst for the win over Carlisle, but insisted the team must forget about the victory and focus on the job in hand.

He said: "We had a meeting and discussed one or two things and they came up trumps, but we've got another game tonight and they've got to do it again.

"The next game is always is the biggest one. We won't get carried away. We set standards, we know what they can do and it's up to them to prove themselves again and again.

"We've got a tough game at Sheffield Wednesday, we have to make sure we prepare fully for that one and give a performance like we did on Saturday."

Victory could take the Saddlers off the bottom of the table and just two points to safety and Matt Richards insisted the visitors can spring a shock.

He added: "It's going to be a big occasion but we're up for it, we showed we can beat some big teams like Leeds last season."