Express & Star

Walsall loan striker Douglas James-Taylor sets ten goal Christmas target

Walsall loanee Douglas James-Taylor has set an ambitious target of scoring 10 goals before Christmas as he continues his search for his first strike of the season.

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The 20-year-old, who is on-loan from Stoke, impressed in his first ever Football League start on Tuesday as Walsall beat Northampton.

Now, the youngster is determined to find his first goal and push on.

He said: "I've had a lot of support around me from my agent, my coaches at Stoke, my mum. They're all supportive and ambitious for me, they keep pushing me.

"I don't take anything to heart when I'm not in the team. I know I need to improve.

"My confidence is building and hopefully once I get that first goal, it will build even more.

"Before I came into the season my aim was to get 10 goals by Christmas.

"I'm sticking with that, even though I've not scored now, I still believe I can do that. As a team, the aim is to get promoted."

Head coach Michael Flynn showed faith in James-Taylor by starting him in midweek and says it is a reward for his improvements of late.

"I know what Douglas can do, that's why I brought him here," Flynn said.

"He hasn't been showing what he can do. Not intentionally, it's just taken him a while to adapt to full-time football that means something.

"By that, I mean in the under-23s you can get away with having an off day.

"For the last few weeks he's been at it and pushing in training. I thought he did very well when he came on against Stockport and with Northampton's physical presence, we thought he could ruffle some feathers.

"He has some confidence and I thought he was brilliant."