Saddlers bid to lose weekend hangover

Walsall head for Boundary Park tonight with captain Andy Butler backing their "fearless" fledglings to shake off their opening day hangover in time to take on Oldham.

The Saddlers will arrive in the north west needing a shot in the arm after kicking off their League One campaign with a 3-0 defeat to Doncaster at the Banks's Stadium.

And skipper Butler reckons the naivety of youth will count in favour of Dean Smith's side this evening as they look to bounce back from their big opening-day setback.

"We don't go into any games with fear," said the centre-back.

"If you do you are looking straight at a hiding, but that's a big positive with the youngsters – they're not afraid to take anyone on.

"Doncaster was only the first game so it's not the end of the world. There's no need to get down about it yet. Doncaster came down from the Championship last year and have good players, so if we take the positives from that game in terms of how we passed the ball and keep playing how we're playing I'm sure we'll be alright.

"Jon Whitney, the gaffer and Richard O'Kelly will get us going again and as a group of players we will all get together and look at what we have done wrong and what we did right right.

"We're not going to Oldham with our heads down because we played well against Brentford a week before and we played well against Doncaster in stages.

"We passed it around nicely at times."

Saturday's heavy loss burst Walsall's bubble of optimism after they kicked off their season with victory over Brentford in the Capital One Cup seven days earlier. But Butler is adamant the club's young forwards offered enough evidence at the weekend to show they can trouble the Latics this evening and Notts County at Meadow Lane on Saturday.

"When we get it down and pass it and give it to the young lads on the wings, and to Florent and Will Grigg, I don't think there are many teams that can stop with the pace and trickery they've got," he said.

"We just need to put something on the end of it now, and that will come. They are young players and they're eager to get better.

"This is a learning curve for them now. We know how much better we've got to be and I'm sure we will do that against Oldham.

"I saw Oldham against Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup on TV and they look an organised side but they crumbled a bit in the second half.

"Oldham is another game so we've got to move on from Doncaster, look at what we could have done better and what we did well and take that to Oldham.

"They got beaten 2-0 by MK Dons so we have to go there and see what we do.

"Saturday was only the first game. It's not as though we were at the end of the season."

The Saddlers' trip to Boundary Park marks the start of a hectic eight-day spell that includes three away games, with tonight's match and Saturday's visit to Nottingham followed by a meeting with QPR at Loftus Road next Tuesday in round two of the Capital One Cup.

And Butler believes the Saddlers' fitness will see them cope with the physical demands of the busy period.

"It's part and parcel of football," he said. "It's never been any different and that's what pre-season is there for, to get you ready.

"It's Saturday to Tuesday so the time is there to have rest periods to recover between games. We're professional athletes so we should be able to cope with it."