Walsall ‘putting the frighteners on rivals’

The Saddlers have been in impressive form throughout 2017 and moved to within six points of the play-offs following Tuesday’s victory over Chesterfield.

That result ensured Jon Whitney’s side won a sixth consecutive game at the Banks’s Stadium for the first time in 10 years.

And Laird believes Walsall’s promotion rivals will be standing up and taking notice.

“I’ve been involved in six play-off pushes and to get in there you need to be hitting form at the right time – with 10-15 games left of the season,” the 28-year-old said.

“If you hit form then, teams start to fear you, teams start to look at your results and think ‘Oh my God, Walsall have won again’.

“If you get on a run, teams don’t want to play you.

“I think there will have been players watching Gillette Soccer Special On Tuesday thinking ‘Oh Walsall have won again and kept another clean sheet, they are on a right march’.

“But we are going to stay grounded – we are not going to get carried away and we won’t look too far ahead.

“We are going into the next game, which is Charlton, looking to beat them and see where that takes us.”

Laird was initially snapped up on loan from Scunthorpe back in August and quickly became a fans’ favourite at the Banks’s Stadium following a string of impressive displays.

He returned to the Iron at the start of January while Walsall worked to extend his temporary switch until the end of the season.

But he has had to bide his time to win back his place in Whitney’s side – with the Saddlers turning the corner during his brief return to Lincolnshire.

“I went back to Scunthorpe, didn’t train for two weeks before the Sheffield United game and since then the boys have been absolutely on fire,” Laird continued.

“They have been brilliant so I can’t fault that and I’ve just had to wait my time. And now I’m back in, I’ve got to be on my game every single minute to keep the boys out of the team because that’s what they’ve done to keep me out of the team.

“So it’s my turn to keep on it, try to score a few more goals and keep a few more clean sheets to get the gaffer to keep picking me.”

Walsall’s last two victories have come against teams battling relegation, with Oldham being toppled before the win over Gary Caldwell’s Spireites.

But despite their lowly position in League One, Laird believes they are the toughest games to win at this stage of the season.

“These are the hardest games,” the defender added.

“You saw against Oldham. These are teams fighting for their lives.

“Their wages are going to go down if they get relegated so they are fighting for every inch.

“So the last two performances have been great and, to be fair, over the last six home games we’ve put some great performances in.

“The expectation has risen but I think we’ve fed off that, thrived off that and going into the last 10 games we have great momentum to go and kick on.

“It’s a great place to be because everyone is hungry to succeed, we are in form and looking forward to every game.”