Amadou Bakayoko: Play-offs not impossible for Walsall

The Saddlers have to this point experienced an inconsistent campaign, much of which has been spent in the lower half of the table.

But last week's surprise win at Sheffield United saw them move within three points of the top six and Bakayoko believes a team largely constructed from scratch last summer should only get better over the second half of the season.

"It's been up and down but in this league you never know," he said. "This is my first real season in the first team but I have already realised anything can happen. It just depends on us now.

"We have to keep making sure we do the right things, keep battling it out.

"I hope we will be stronger (over the second half).

"The way we are going at the moment we should be up there because we work so hard together. We are an honest group and it will come."

Bakayoko is hoping for an extended run in the first team having netted his seventh goal of the season against the Blades.

Yet the 20-year-old, who was born in Sierra Leone and came through the Saddlers youth ranks, insists it is team rather than individual achievements which give him most satisfaction.

"The way I see it, it is me providing for the team," he said. "We are trying to build the club up and I am just working hard.

"That is what I am trying to do.

"Individual goals are part of it but what matters most is three points.

"Everyone wants to be up there in the table, so wins are vital."

Victory at Bramall Lane snapped a five-game winless run for the Saddlers, who return to action when they travel to Fleetwood on Saturday.

"No matter whether we win or lose we always stick together, analyse the games," he said.

"Everyone listens to each other and we make sure we put it right in the next game.

"When things don't come off it doesn't mean you stop doing it."