Crawley Town vs Walsall - Match preview

The Saddlers’ small squad will be pushed to the limit when they travel to The People’s Pension Stadium today, following a Good Friday win at home to Carlisle.

The hosts are in good form with back-to-back wins and four victories from five and Flynn is expecting a difficult clash with John Yems’ side.

Flynn said: “They had a fantastic result on Friday. It is a tough place to go and it will be good to see John Yems, who is a friend of mine.

“They’ve had a good season and will want to finish on a high. It will be a good game.

“It will be tough because of the amount of effort and how small our squad is, what toll that is going to take on Monday.”

Tyrese Shade is expected to start again after enjoying a resurgence since Flynn took over at Walsall in February.

Friday’s win over Crawley meant Walsall were made mathematically safe from relegation and loanee Shade is eager to enjoy a strong end to the season.

“With safety guaranteed we want to go and finish as high as possible,” he said.

“The manager has mentioned that numerous times. He did not just want to guarantee safety. Having back-to-back games is tough on the legs but it does make the week go quicker. We just want to keep a bit of momentum going now. Consistency is a big thing.

“This league is so hard to predict. We should definitely be higher in the table. I knew from the day I walked in the building how good the team was.

“We have had difficult form but I think we are finding our feet now. What the manager wants to do and put in place next season you will definitely see a change. The new manager coming in, he has implemented a new style and you can see from the team we have a lot of energy out there.

“We want to continue the momentum from Friday now. He understands the league and the players. He has a bit more experience so he knows how to get into the team’s head.”

Walsall will be without Conor Wilkinson after he suffered an ACL injury.

Shade grabbed a Walsall shirt with Wilkinson’s name on the back for goalscorer Jack Earing to hold up after his strike on Friday – a move the team had planned before the game. Shade added: It is a big disappointment. He has been a stand-out player for us this season and it is devastating for the team and Conor himself.

“We just hope he can come back as soon as possible. The celebration was planned. We thought doing something, even just as small as that, would keep his thoughts happy. The whole team here is close. You could see when we celebrated we are together.”