Faith in bosses for both Walsall and Oldham

Both are on unbeaten runs, both have a philosophy of playing attractive football while developing their own young players and both have shown faith in their managers when others might not.

The Saddlers famously stuck with Dean Smith during a 16-game winless run two seasons ago, while in March of this year it was Oldham's Lee Johnson whose head was on the block as his team slipped toward the League One drop-zone.

But nerves were held, bullets remained unfired and 33-year-old Johnson remained. The Latics ended the season with a 10-game unbeaten run and their current campaign has begun well, with Johnson's men having not tasted defeat in their last nine games.

Proof again, in a week when the division saw another managerial casualty when Russ Wilcox was sacked by Scunthorpe, that keeping faith with a manager often pays off.

Saddlers boss Smith has been impressed by Johnson's work at Boundary Park over the past 12 months.

"They are a good footballing team," he said. "Lee has developed a really good bunch of players who play good football.

"They are on an unbeaten run at the moment and they are challenging. It is going to be a really tough game.

"They were a big strong team last season but they are full of footballers and they try and play.

"I watched bits of their game against Peterborough and I had somebody watch them against Barnsley and they are a good footballing team who look to try and win games and score goals. I know that sounds funny but sometimes teams go out and try not to lose. This is a team which tries to win and we are going to have to be at our best."

Smith's own side have been back to approaching their best in recent weeks, highlighted by the current four-game unbeaten run.

The gloom which hung over the Banks's just three weeks ago following the 4-0 defeat at Rochdale has gone and Smith appears more relaxed.

Pressure, he acknowledges, is always there but the Saddlers boss seems equipped to handle it.

"Pressure gets ramped up by other people - supporters who talk about the game and by the media," he says. "That is the nature of the beast.

"But as I have always said, if you believe in what you are doing and have the support of your family, staff and the hierarchy at the club that is the most important part of it.

"If you want to be a progressive club you always have to be moving in the same direction.

"Thankfully we do that. We talk all the time about how we can move forward and what it takes.

"We played really well against Preston and had the good result and then we had the off day at Rochdale but since then we have been really good in terms of performances and got some really good results with it.

"The important thing is game to game. It's all about the next game and you can't look any further ahead than that."