Jon Whitney: Walsall youngsters learning to deal with pressure
Jon Whitney believes Walsall’s young stars will be stronger for the adversity they have faced this season and declared: “If they can cope with this, they can cope with anything”.
Back-to-back wins over Fleetwood and AFC Wimbledon have improved the Saddlers position in League One but not entirely erased the mood of negativity which had built among supporters during a disappointing start to the campaign.
Whitney, who has faced calls to quit, has been impressed by the maturity shown by his young team in recent weeks.
Kory Roberts and Liam Kinsella are among the academy products to have played in recent weeks and Whitney said: “It doesn’t how old you are, if you can show you can handle these pressures and some of the negativity that has surrounded the club the last month or two – that is a great learning environment to be in.
“If you can cope with this, you will cope with anything and some of them are learning quickly. I think as a group we have got stronger from it.
“There is more resilience in the group than there was three or four game ago. It’s really good to push on. But we haven’t turned a corner.
“We are still going to really push and make sure we stay hungry.”
Whitney will challenge his players to record a hat-trick of wins when they host Bury in a Checkatrade Trophy second round tie on Saturday.
“Our next target now is to push on into the top half and get into the next round for the Trophy,” said the boss.
“Back-to-back wins is something we’ve not done since March. It’s something we have not done this season. But we have to try and turn it into a hat-trick now.
“We have set some standards for ourselves. We have moved up to 13th in the table.
“The last two wins, of course they are big. But I think the last four performances are what I’m really pleased about.
“It shows consistency. That is a word we have used a lot in the past. And now we are looking forward to the next game.”
