Darrell Clarke eyes healthy Walsall scoreline

After defeating Morecambe and Scunthorpe 1-0 in successive games, Clarke’s men have climbed to 16th in League Two.

Before that they had won one game in eight in the league, a 1-0 win on the opening day at Northampton, but the consecutive wins have given the squad a new lease of life over the past week. Of those three 1-0 wins, centre-back and skipper James Clarke scored the winners against Northampton and Scunthorpe - while midfielder Stuart Sinclair notched the goal against Morecambe.And Clarke had admitted his side must put games to bed earlier as he joked his health would suffer if they didn’t.

“It’s a platform, but we know we can’t go through the whole course of the season – I’d like to say we can, but it’s hard work to go the whole course of the season while one goal’s going to win you a game,” he said.

“That’s a dangerous game to play, I don’t play like that and I don’t set my teams up like that.

“I’ll be dead by the end of the season if we’re going to keep continuing like that, the heart will be gone.

“There’ll be somebody else in here saying ‘I’ll take a 1-0.’

“Everybody says it’s the perfect scoreline, but not for your heart, not for managers.”

Walsall changed most of their squad in the summer, seeing 23 depart the Banks’s Stadium and 16 players coming in. As the team gels together, Clarke is hoping more damage can be caused in the opposition box as he strikers hit form.

“We want to be making more of our opportunities in that final third,” he said. “We’ve had the biggest turnover in the EFL, that says its own story.

“We’ve still got a hell of a lot of work to do.

“ I’m still assessing players and working on players – it doesn’t happen after 12, 13 weeks.

“You still work with the mentality of the group and coming up two, three months to the window you assess where people are going to fall by the wayside because they’re not ready for the journey or not part of my journey.

“You’re forever doing it.”