Ryan Jarvis looks for focus at Walsall
Walsall striker Ryan Jarvis has told the Saddlers to ignore the hype if they want to fulfil their potential.
Walsall striker Ryan Jarvis has told the Saddlers to ignore the hype if they want to fulfil their potential.
The forward reckons the club can succeed this season but cannot afford to get distracted by expectation.
Confidence is high after Saturday's 1-0 win over Leyton Orient and the Saddlers host Middlesbrough in the Carling Cup first round tonight.
Jarvis in line for his full debut - with Will Grigg on Northern Ireland under-21 duty - but insisted the team must be patient in their quest for glory.
He said: "I don't think we should rush off and go for promotion straight away. It's about taking it slowly and, if you do that and have patience with the whole squad, things will be alright.
"They did really well to stay up last season but it's not like we're going to start looking for promotion straight away.
"The manager is building a squad here, it's been good in pre-season but it's totally different once the games start.
"You start slowly and then push up the league. We can't get carried away with how well they did when the manager came in last year.
"He did really well but we've got a lot of new players and hopefully we can put some results together. It's a long season, a marathon not a sprint like everyone says.
"We have to keeping nicking wins and points here and here, make our home ground a fortress and then nick the odd point away."
Championship Boro, who won the Carling Cup in 2004, come to the Banks's Stadium as favourites but Jarvis isn't fazed.
The 24-year-old was part of the Leyton Orient squad who knocked out Dagenham, Norwich and Swansea before eventually losing in a replay to Arsenal in last season's FA Cup.
He said: "You need a bit of luck sometimes. We had a run at Orient last year and we got to play Arsenal at the Emirates. We hung in there and got late goals.
"There's no secret, you just have to dig in and work as hard as you can. If you stay strong as a team and nick a goal you're going through.
"We're the underdogs, so we're going out there with no pressure anyway."
