Jon Whitney: Dobson a breath of fresh air

The 19-year-old, who joined the Saddlers on loan from West Ham in the summer, was re-called to Whitney’ starting XI for Tuesday’s visit of Fleetwood.

Dobson was handed his chance after impressing in cameos off the subs bench against Chesterfield and Charlton.

And Whitney felt the youngster deserved his chance to start – with the former Arsenal youngster having developed from a defensive midfielder into a more complete player over the past few months.

“I think George has done very well,” the boss said.

“George is one of them, he is always very disappointed when he doesn’t play.

“He wants to play every minute. He just loves football.

“Every time he has come on he has given us a breath of fresh air.

“He injects a little bit of tempo and he is always looking forward for a pass.

“He is one of them that puts opposition teams on the back foot and that is important.

“I always say to people coming off the bench – you have to be ready to make an impact and you have to try and force my hand for my starting position.

“That is what he kept doing. He has done well but he has also been very patient because all the lads have done well.”

Dobson’s start against Fleetwood was his first in the league for the Saddlers since the reverse fixture against the Cod Army back in December.

In total he has made 20 appearances for Whitney’s men, starting 11 times and featuring in nine from the bench.

And Whitney was pleased with how the youngster performed after naming him ahead of Kieron Morris in Tuesday’s defeat to the Cod Army.

“I thought Kieron had looked a little but leggy and George came in and did really well,” the boss continued.

“I just thought Fleetwood would do a job on Erhun (Oztumer) so we tried to push him higher as a direct two up and try and get George into that little pocket because that is what he does really well.

“I thought he was a threat. He had great energy and he was disappointed to be on the losing side.

“But I couldn’t fault the lad’s effort and I thought he showed some real good quality for a 19-year-old.”

Walsall’s defeat to Uwe Rosler’s side ended a run of six consecutive wins at the Banks’s Stadium.

And while they remain five points outside the League One play-offs, sixth-placed Millwall now enjoy three games in hand.

Whitney though still believes his side can achieve something special this season.

“Most things stayed the same after Fleetwood but it is one less game,” he added.

“We are relying on other people to slip up. All we can do is control the controllables and make sure we do our job right. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves.

“We will still believe we can create something this year and we will be doing what we can to prepare for Southend.

“I will pick the players up and we will buoyant going into the weekend.”