Jon Whitney's putting the Walsall set-pieces together

The Saddlers manager watched on Saturday as Matt Preston scored from a corner to help his side secure a 2-1 victory over Northampton.

That result extended Walsall's unbeaten run to five matches – with Whitney's men now sitting just four points outside the League One play-offs.

And the boss was particularly pleased to see his side score from a set-play after revealing the players have been working hard to improve that area of their game.

"We have spoken a lot about how we feel we don't threaten enough from set-pieces," Whitney said.

"We talked about how often do we believe we are going to score when we have got a corner or free-kick.

"But over the past few games we started to get better. It helps keeping the same personnel.

"All the teams I played in, we used to get goals from set-pieces and we needed to bring a bit of that back in.

"We've been doing that, working on that, set routines we have sessions solely on set-pieces.

"And you can see that, now, I thought the timing of the deliveries against Northampton was much better.

"Matty's goal was great because it shows that hard work is paying off. And it means I can now do even more sessions on the training pitch because we have scored one."

Preston's strike helped inspire Walsall to their second comeback in the space of seven days with the Saddlers finding themselves two goals down at Bury before fighting back to draw the game 3-3.

And Whitney believes it's important his squad knows they are never out of a game.

"Never be beaten – that's our mindset," the boss continued.

"You've got teams all over the pyramid, right the way up to the Premier League, that when they go a goal behind, their heads go.

"That shows a lack of resilience. But we've got resilience.

"In the past, we haven't come back from going behind that many times but we've done it twice in two weeks now.

"Moving forward, if we ever find ourselves behind, the lads know they have already done it before.

"So we still do what we do, keep playing the way we do and keep believing."

Meanwhile, Whitney says he is considering sending some of his younger players out on loan to gain first-team experience.

With the transfer window closed, the Saddlers cannot send a player to another club in the Football League.

But they can secure temporary moves to teams in the National League or below – with Theo Vassell and Liam Roberts currently gaining valuable playing time at Chester.

"There is a possibility we might send one or two out," Whitney added.

"We can't send them to a league club now. But we can put them into the National League and still call them back.

"I think it's important if I have a couple of injuries I can call them back.

"We are still looking at getting one or two of them some experience.

"But that's something that is not too much of a priority at the moment because everyone is happy with the group."