Kieron Morris is after a Southend repeat
Midfielder Kieron Morris has come a long way since scoring the winner the last time Walsall played Southend 12 months ago.
The last six months alone have been potentially career defining.
Seemingly out-of-favour, on loan at Wrexham and with his latest six-month Saddlers deal running out, the winger's future looked increasingly likely to be spent away from the Banks's Stadium.
But after being recalled by manager Dean Smith in late March, Morris did enough over the final eight games of last term not only to cement a place in the starting line-up but earn a new two-year contract.
It has, the 21-year-old admits, been something of a 'whirlwind' time with memories of that strike at Roots Hall, his first senior goal, still fresh in the memory.
The 87th-minute, 25-yard blast saw the Saddlers edge a pulsating Capital One Cup tie 2-1 and announced his arrival on the first-team stage.
"It seems a long, long time ago," he says. "I remember coming off the bench, the 75th minute I think it was.
"You just want to make an impact on the game. I took my chance, edge of the box. Just fired it away."
While Morris' strike saw Walsall progress in the competition, it did not, initially, have the same galvanising effect on his career.
Six substitute appearances later he was off to Wrexham, which is where he remained until the March recall.
The player who steps out at Roots Hall tomorrow will be a very different one to the one who scored 12 months ago.
Shorn of the pressure brought by a short-term deal, Morris feels more stable, more at home, more confident.
"When you are on a six-month contract it is nerve-wracking, you are constantly fighting for the next one," he says.
"With a two-year deal you have a bit more security and that gives you confidence.
"On a six-month contract you have to show the gaffer you have what it takes to play in the team.
"There is huge pressure every time you play. Getting the two-year deal makes it a bit easier but I still have to keep going, it does not mean I can stop working."
If the opening two games of the season are anything to go by, Morris knows he faces a battle along with everyone else to feature regularly, with Smith showing a willingness to change tactics and personnel game-by-game.
"It's a strong squad," he says. "We have loads of good players and it's going to be hard. There are going to be a lot of players in and out of the team but you have got to fight for your place."
