Jordy Hiwula's eyes on the prize for Saddlers

The 21-year-old bagged his second goal since linking up with the Saddlers for a second time on Tuesday, netting what proved to be the winner in a 2-1 win at Gillingham which kept Jon Whitney's side right in the thick of the automatic promotion race.

It came almost a year to the day since he scored twice in a 5-0 home win over Crawley during his first loan stay at the Banks's, a result which effectively ended any lingering relegation fears for the club, then managed by Dean Smith.

The manager, and the ambitions, might have altered considerably since then but Hiwula's only focus since returning to the Saddlers last month has been to keep on winning.

With a huge victory in Kent secured on Tuesday, the former Manchester City hitman's attention has already switched to back-to-back home games against Southend and Swindon.

"I'm enjoying every minute of it," he said. "It's a different situation now (to a year ago), we're going for promotion and we've just got to take it one game at a time.

"We've gone to Gillingham and got three points and we'll be looking to get three points again against Southend on Saturday.

"We've got one of the best away records in the league. we just need to keep building that and take it into the two home games we've got now.

"They're going to be two big games – must-win games as well. We've got to take our games to our opponents."

Hiwula returned to the Saddlers last month until the end of the season, the latest move in a busy period which began last July when he left City, where he had starred in the Premier League club's youth teams, and signed a three-year-deal with Huddersfield Town.

A month later, he was loaned out to Wigan, scoring six goals for the Latics before a brief return to Huddersfield preceded his move back to the Saddlers. With Tom Bradshaw sidelined for the last two games with a groin injury, Hiwula has accepted the load of playing as a lone central striker but showed his considerable prowess with the crucial goal at Priestfield.

"It was a big performance from the lads. We knew we had to go there and get all three points and I thought the lads put in a good shift," he said.

"I found it difficult as they played it three at the back for around 80 minutes. When we scored the second goal, they went to a two. I was told to keep their back three as far back as possible and to occupy the backline. I felt I played well."

The importance of Tuesday's win should not be under-estimated. Had the Saddlers been beaten, they would have stuck at eight points behind second-placed Burton. As it is, the gap between them and a Brewers outfit which has begun to stumble is down to five, while they still hold a precious game in hand.

"We've just got to keep doing what we're doing and keep winning our games," said Hiwula. "Hopefully Burton will slip up and we'll take that opportunity.

"We created a lot of chances at Gillingham and it was just a matter of time until we scored. We've got to build on that now and take that into Saturday and keep creating chances."