Contract keeping Craig MacGillivray on his toes
Goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray admits he will be fighting for a new contract as well as three points when Millwall visit the Banks's Stadium tomorrow.
The 23-year-old glovesman is again set to deputise for the injured Neil Etheridge, who misses out with the gashed knee he picked up in the FA Cup defeat at Reading.
Etheridge has been pencilled in to return for next weekend's clash with relegation-threatened Crewe.
First though, the Saddlers face a Millwall side who have promotion dreams of their own, with Neil Harris's side currently sitting sixth in League One. And MacGillivray, who returned to the side for Tuesday's victory at Doncaster, admits he will take to the field battling for his own future, as well as the club's.
"Whether Neil was available or not, I would be knocking on the manager's door and asking to play because we won at Doncaster," the shot stopper said.
"Millwall have picked up, they are sixth in the league at the moment and they are a tough team.
"They are very direct and we will do our homework on them to try to pick up another three points. The main thing is of course to win.
"I've played more games this season and every time I do play, with being out of contract at the end of the season, I have to impress the gaffer as much as I can and try to earn myself another contract.
"That is what I want at the end of the season."
MacGillivray was pleased with the role he played in the victory at Doncaster, but was disappointed he wasn't able to keep a clean sheet.
"First of all, it was nice to play again because it's frustrating being on the sidelines," he said. "I've come in and tried my best to help the team.
"It's obviously frustrating being on the bench, but when I'm called upon I try to do my best and make the decision between me and Neil as difficult as possible for the gaffer.
"But the main thing, whoever plays, is to win the game.
"It was frustrating not to get a clean sheet because that would have capped the night off, for me personally as well as the team. But the important thing is that we saw the game out and moved back into the automatic promotion places."
Now sat second in League One, MacGillivray believes Walsall have a great chance to reach the Championship.
"We can definitely go up," he added. "Anyone can beat anyone in this league so we're just going to keep focusing on our results and picking up as many points as we can. We'll see where it takes us at the end of the season."
