Express & Star

Liam Kinsella enjoys a rare Walsall goal

Midfielder Liam Kinsella celebrated scoring only his fourth goal in 236 appearances to help Walsall to a valuable three points over Mansfield.

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But the 26-year-old revealed assistant manager Wayne Hatswell had a large part to play in the build-up to the goal.

Hatswell pinpointed the set play which led to Kinsella sneaking in from an unusually forward position to head home an Issac Hutchinson corner just after the break.

He said: “Hats works tirelessly on working out the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses and where we can exploit things.

“He encouraged me to get forward for the corners and to be fair I just got my head to it and hoped for the best.

“It is great to score, particularly when you don’t get that many and to do it in front of the home end at such an important time felt really good.

“But it was a hard-working team performance, the two goals were well worked and we managed to defend well in depth at times against a very good team.

“Two wins out of three over Christmas is not a bad return, particularly against teams who were above us at the start of play.”