Togetherness is key for the Saddlers

Ryan Jarvis and Alex Nicholls play table tennis after pulling four desks together in the Walsall dining room.

Before, Richard Taundry and Lee Beevers faced-off at darts – a new addition to the Essington decor as the squad set up home at the training ground.

At first glance the squad could be having too much fun, taking their minds off the increasingly precarious job in hand.

But it's a further example of their togetherness which the Saddlers insist can be the key to League One survival.

"When you find yourself down the bottom of the table there can be a bit of tension so you do need things away from the football," said the former Albion midfielder.

"We don't want to relax too much but we spend a lot of time at the training ground and we're not training all the time so you want to do a bit of bonding.

"Little things help to occupy the time when we're not training or watching the videos of other teams.

"When we're on the training pitch we're focused on the football and when we're watching the videos we're concentrating on the other team but when we're away from it we sometimes need to relax. What we're doing now can help.

"We don't want to take our minds off it too much. We've got a big job ahead of us and we have to concentrate on picking up points and winning games. We're fully focused and it's about the balance."

One of the main problems this term has been the barren home form. Just three league wins have ensured a season of struggle and their last outing, a 1-0 defeat to Notts County, struck a familiar tone.

And Chambers admitted the mood after the County defeat was dark as the Saddlers struggle to find that perfect performance.

"It wasn't too great," he recalled. "The first half wasn't great and we did better second half but we've done that a bit this season. It's trying to get that 90-minute performance that is important.

"I don't know why it hasn't happened. We're all looking for it and training hard but I can't put my finger on it myself. There have been a few games where we've played well and games where we've played in fits and starts."