Express & Star

Walsall's Elijah Adebayo is striving for consistency

Saddlers striker Elijah Adebayo is striving for consistency as he looks to build on his best performance in a Walsall shirt.

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The 22-year-old put in a hugely impressive display in the 3-2 win over Northampton and for the former Fulham man, it’s now all about staking his claim every week.

“It was great, I was happy to be back out there,” he said.

“I felt a lot better about myself, I feel like I grew into the game.

“Everyone played a part, not just me, the boys were great in the second-half.

“I know in the first-half we were a bit off it, but when we’ve been spoken to about mentality and coming back from a losing position, we showed we can be strong.

“That was a collective, not just an individual.

“That’s the question that’s been asked. Personally for me it’s definitely about consistency, I’d love to be able to do that every week.

“That’s the stage I want to get to, where I can do that week in, week out.

“The boys are doing it, you see the likes of Flash (Josh Gordon) and Lavs (Caolan Lavery), they do it every week consistently.

“It’s about me getting to that level and trying to be exactly the same.

“To be able to give 100 per cent, which I want to do of course, no-one goes out there to not give 100 per cent.

“I try and give 100 per cent all the time, so it’s about doing that on a consistent basis.

“Everyone says I have the tools, it’s just about putting it all together and making sure that I’m doing that consistently for the team, and that I can be trusted to do that.

“That’s the small steps that I want to take to make sure I’m the player I am come four or five years time.”

With Gordon and Lavery on 11 and 10 goals respectively this season, Adebayo has some catching up to do with five strikes to his name, but he says it’s that competition that drives him.

“It wouldn’t be the same if there was no competition,” he added.

“It’s always good to have competition in the squad because it means you push yourself to go that extra mile, doing a bit extra outside of training or after training.

“In order to give yourself the best possible chance to be in the team.

“The competition is good, I like it and we’ll just keep pushing each other.”