Walsall v Cambridge United: Caolan Lavery keen to weigh in with share of goals

The Saddlers have plenty to be positive about, having stretched their league unbeaten run to 13 games on Saturday.

But the 2-2 draw has made it six stalemates in eight league games this season, with Walsall desperate to add to the win column.

Lavery netted twice on Saturday to take his tally to three goals this campaign and when asked whether there is a weight on him to continue scoring following Josh Gordon’s injury, he said: “I guess you can say a little bit.

“We brought in Adan (George) and Scrimmy (Jake Scrimshaw) to help Eli (Adebayo) and myself but it’s one of them as since the start of the season Josh (Gordon) has been playing more wide so it’s been rotated between Eli and myself.

“But bringing the two lads is has put more pressure on us and it’s keeping Eli and I on our toes so it’s healthy competition.

“It’s nice to get back amongst the goals, I’ve said previously that I should have more than three as well. I missed a few good chances that I should have scored earlier on in the season so to get back amongst them was nice.”

Cambridge, meanwhile, have only lost once this season as they sit second in the league.

A start of five wins in eight games has given manager Mark Bonner a superb start as the Saddlers bid to get out of their drawing rut.

“We’re drawing a lot of games, yes,” Lavery added.

“We’re disappointed, yes but if we go on and win two or three in a row then these draws could turn into really good ones.

“They’re one of those teams that if you look at them from last season to this season, whatever they’ve done has worked for them.

“They’ve got a centre forward in red hot form so it’s going to be another interesting one but it’s one that we’re all looking forward to.

“With the disappointment, you can’t sit there and worry about it because you’ve got to switch on for Tuesday so it’s nice when the games to come along quick.

“Obviously, you’ve got to do everything right and the coaching staff will make sure we do that but it’s nice to have another game quickly.”

Meanwhile, manager Darrell Clarke is finding the balance between the hectic schedule and playing a winning team as the Saturday-Tuesday fixtures continue for the foreseeable future.

“I’m working with my physios and strength and conditioning coach and monitoring their meters and fatigue injuries that can turn into pulls,” he said.

“You have to be very careful that we don’t do that and try and protect as much as I can. There’s going to be injuries unfortunately, a lot of injuries with the amount of games coming up.

“It’s Saturday-Tuesday right up until the middle of December and then we get the Christmas fixtures.

“There’s not many teams in League Two that can afford to get injuries to key personnel because of the squad size and we’re one of those clubs. We can’t afford too many injuries.”

Rory Holden missed Saturday’s game through injury and James Clarke was taken off after 40 minutes with a knock – and both are expected to miss out tonight.

Emmanuel Osadebe replaced Holden against Barrow and impressed – as Clarke hailed his performance.

“I thought he did brilliant, he worked very hard and was very unfortunate for the ball to come off the post,” Clarke said.

“A great run, plenty of energy, so he’s fitted in the group well. All my players are key, every single one of them know they’re going to play their part.

“It’s the end of a week where we’ve had two long journeys and we’ll try and put a team out on Tuesday night that’s fit and fresh.”

Clarke added: “It’s very early days yet and things can change very quickly in this league with the amount of games coming up.

“I think they’ll respect us like we respect them.

“We’re back at home, not that it makes a difference because there’s no fans there anyway, but it will be nice to be back on our own patch.

“We’ll try and pick up the three points.

“He’s done well, Mark has had a good start.

“He has some consistency in results and I’m sure he’ll be hoping that it keeps going and we’ll be hoping that he doesn’t.”