Pivotal point for Dean Smith's Walsall season

And that's pretty impressive, when you consider that even manager Dean Smith admits this campaign never really got going until it was more than a quarter complete.

After 14 games, the Saddlers sat joint bottom of the table but a haul of 18 points from the next nine games has seen them drive into the top half, three points off the top six.

Of course, they are also still just seven points above the bottom four in a division defender James O'Connor succinctly yet accurately summed up this week as "mad".

His manager is in agreement.

"It is crazy," admits Smith. "At the minute you have four teams at the top who are away from the rest.

"Then you have everyone else fighting it out for fifth and sixth. It is so tight, you have Sheffield United in sixth spot, who are closer in terms of points to the bottom of the table than they are the top.

"We did not get started for the first 10 games.

"If we can maintain this current form over the next 10 games it should leave us well placed to challenge."

Smith marks four years in charge at the Banks's on Sunday and the past 12 months have not been the easiest. A dire league run from February into the opening two months of this season saw him come under perhaps the greatest scrutiny yet from sections of a fanbase beginning to lose faith.

The manager, crucially, never doubted his principles and this unwavering belief more than anything saw him through the rough patch.

"I always felt we had a strong group of individuals, good characters in the squad," he says. "Now they have started to be consistent.

"The two Chambers brothers have been outstanding and they have driven that consistency through the rest of the squad.

"We have kept 10 clean sheets in the league already which is outstanding. It is still early days for us as a football team and I know we can get better."

Whether Walsall can maintain their current run through the second half of the campaign remains to be seen. Last season's campaign collapsed at the very moment they looked ready to take the next step.

The manager does not believe players got carried away by the hype after beating Notts County 5-1 at the end of last January, but acknowledges such results meant his side were no longer flying under the radar. As his outfit have just won 3-0 at high-flying MK Dons, it is little wonder he is keen to urge focus.

"The fact the players take things game by game will help us," he said.

"People were saying last season we were one of the best teams in the league and when we went and beat Notts County 5-1, there was an expectation we would go out and win every game.

"We have to be on top of our game, every game, if we are going to be successful.

"Do I think the players thought they had made it? No.

"After we beat Notts County everyone know what we could do and went defensive. It made things very difficult."