Matt Richards' mission at Walsall

Matt Richards is on a goalscoring mission – one which has quickly gone from impossible to possible.

The midfielder has cast himself as Walsall's unlikely hero in recent weeks with three goals in his last three League One outings.

His winner in the shock 1-0 victory at Charlton on Sunday took his season's tally to five – the best of his career – and the 25-year-old is now the Saddlers' second-top goalscorer.

It all comes after just 15 goals in his previous eight seasons and Richards has now set his sights on grabbing the headlines and the points.

He said: "In my career, earlier on, I was more of a left-back and played a lot of games there but now I'm in midfield I should definitely score more.

"I set myself a target of double figures at the start of the season so hopefully I can get that.

"It's nice to score a few goals, it's my best season but it's important as a central midfielder. You've got to score a few goals and get to double figures.

"When I scored two against Carlisle a few weeks ago that was in the back of my mind, it was the first time I'd ever got two goals in a game it was just great to get on the scoresheet.

"Hopefully I can keep scoring and we can carry on winning."

The former Ipswich man's 69th minute winner at the Valley lifted the team off the foot of the table and five points from safety ahead of the weekend's visit of Southampton.

Now Richards believes the Saddlers are on the brink of a revival.

He said: "In the last three or four games, excluding the FA Cup at Torquay, we have performed better than we have all season.

"The scoreline against Sheffield Wednesday. where we lost 3-0, was very unjust but on Sunday everyone was superb.

"Everyone worked as hard could they could and there were a few tired bodies but it's great to be winning again.

"Maybe in the past we've been slack and let the game flow with a meaningless aim but we had a game plan at Charlton, stuck to it and got three points.

"We've got the ability to beat teams at the top of the league but we haven't done it enough this year.

"If we continue to perform like that we'll definitely climb the league, we just need some consistency."