Chris Marsh: It was excellent to see such strong Walsall character

And in my column last week, Walsall came in for some pretty strong criticism following those defeats at Bristol Rovers and Rotherham.

But they deserve praise now, because the response they showed against Peterborough was excellent.

In the first half in particular, Jon Whitney’s men were really on top against a Posh side that I’d put my mortgage on finishing in the top six.

After the interval, Peterborough came into it more. And they finished very strong.

But you would expect that because they were the team chasing the game.

Of course, we got a bit of luck when Junior Morais saw that goal ruled out for offside. We all know now it should have stood.

But Walsall deserved that for the character they had shown.

I headed to the Banks’s Stadium seriously questioning whether they had the mental strength to put those losses against Bristol Rovers and Rotherham behind them.

I stand by what I said, they should not have lost to 10 men at the Memorial Stadium. And the less said about events in South Yorkshire the better.

Whitney has a lot of young players in his squad and it can take them longer to recover from that type of setback.

Experienced professionals have been there and seen it before. They understand how to deal with the highs and the lows of the game.

But Walsall’s youngsters were excellent on Saturday. The likes of Nicky Devlin, Shaun Donnellan and Tyler Roberts really stood up and did what was asked of them.

The manager deserves a lot of credit for that because I know he puts a great deal of emphasis on signing the right characters...writes Saddlers legend Chris Marsh.

And they performed for him last week.

The one player that really stood out though was Erhun Oztumer. There isn’t a single Saddlers fan who doesn’t appreciate Walsall’s Wizard of Oz.

He was excellent and he reminds me a little bit of Roger Boli who I played with. They are different players. But they were both capable of the unexpected and could smash one in the top corner from 25 yards.

Oztumer is a smashing little player. He has now got 13 goals in his last 25 games at the Banks’s Stadium.

But my worry is – if he gets injured or leaves – where will the goals come from?

I really like Ama Bakayoko. I think he has real potential. Dan Agyei had an impressive debut against Plymouth. And Tyler Roberts is a major talent. I’ve heard there are some big Premier League clubs monitoring him.

But it’s Oztumer who makes everything tick and his goal record is fantastic. He is out of contract in the summer and people ask me if he could play in the Championship.

But he absolutely can. You get more time in the Championship and there is more quality.

And that is him all over, he is quality.

Walsall should give him whatever he wants to keep him at the club.

Sign him, sign him, sign him, because he is a diamond.

And with him in your side you have always got a chance.

Hopefully Oztumer will now help inspire Walsall to victory at Oxford on Saturday.

I’ve watched Oxford a few times recently and they are a very good footballing side.

But if it was at the Banks’s you’d fancy Walsall. They are a match for anyone at home but they seem to missing that ingredient where they can go away from home and scrap for something.

The rut has been going on a long time.

And I think beating Bristol Rovers would have been massive for them.

It would have got the monkey off their back that they haven’t won away in 2017.

And it would have allowed them to go to Rotherham with real confidence.

But hopefully those recent defeats we spark something in them.

I saw Florent Cuvelier say this week he was embarrassed by the performance at Rotherham.

All the players will have felt that way.

Now it’s up to them to make sure it doesn’t happen again.