Darryl Westlake: Stick with the current crop
Darryl Westlake today told Walsall boss Dean Smith to save his cash and bank on his current crop to rescue the season.
Darryl Westlake today told Walsall boss Dean Smith to save his cash and bank on his current crop to rescue the season.
The right-back reckons the Saddlers don't need any loan rangers and can pull away from danger themselves.
Smith, who has been nominated for League One's December Manager of the Month, is hunting new recruits with the Saddlers 19th – a point above the drop zone.
But Westlake insisted the squad can cope without them and believes they deserve another chance.
He said: "I don't think we need any loanees coming in. We're capable, as a team, of getting results.
"If players get injured then it's right for others to come in and help us but at the moment we're OK and we'll keep working hard.
"Last year we made the Great Escape but I don't think we'll be in the relegation zone because we've got the players already here."
Smith only has Middlesbrough's Andy Halliday on loan and the winger's spell ends after Saturday's visit of Bournemouth.
Halliday has made just three starts since joining in November and was subbed in Monday's disappointing 2-1 defeat at Bury which ended Walsall's five-game unbeaten run.
But Westlake said the Saddlers have forgotten about their Gigg Lane loss and can hit back against the mid-table Cherries, who they beat 2-0 at Dean Court in August – their last away win.
"We were unlucky, we need to move on and get ready for Bournemouth. We'll prepare right in training and target them," he said.
"We went there earlier in the season and beat them 2-0 so we're looking to take six points off them," said the 20-year-old. "If we do that we climb the table, put some distance between us and the teams below us and keep in touch with the sides above."
"It's a big game, we'd gone unbeaten recently but had lots of draws so we need to turn them into wins. We've been creating chances in games and it's just a matter of taking them now.
"We know we can play, it's a matter of putting a string of results together now. We know we can win and we have to go into the games with the right attitude and be positive."
