'More to come' - James Connolly backs Walsall to respond to first league defeat

Defender James Connolly believes Walsall have “more gears” that they can click in to, as he assured supporters that they’re still “nowhere near” their best.

Walsall were the last unbeaten team in the top four tiers of English football, before they succumbed to a 4-2 defeat against league leaders Salford City at Bescot on Monday night.

“I’ve said previously how hard we work on the training pitch. Our standards are so high from the coaching staff to the players,” Connolly said.

‘Loads more to come’ - Connolly on Walsall’s start

“You can see from all of the other games and parts of tonight [against Salford] even though we lost the game.

“There were some really good parts. We scored some good goals and we are building.

“We’re nowhere near our best if I’m being honest. I think we’ve shown really good glimpses, but we’re going to keep building as the season goes on.”

He continued: “100 per cent [we have more gears to click in to]. We’re still a brand new team, a brand new squad and a brand new coaching staff.

“People seem to forget that when we were the last unbeaten team in the 92. We’ve shown really good signs, but there’s still loads more to come.”

The Saddlers had avoided defeat in the opening 11 games of a league season for the first time in 47 years, although that run did feature seven draws.

Many of the supporters stayed to applaud the players after their thrilling defeat to Salford and Connolly praised the powerful impact that the fan base has had on the squad.

“We feel the support - it’s massive. There were almost 7,000 here tonight and you can feel it all of the way,” he added.

“Shooting at that end, they’re sucking the ball in for us. It wasn’t to be late on tonight, but we’re so grateful for that.

“It drives us on. It really does, but it was just disappointing that we couldn’t give them a win.

“Although I think they know we’re a team that they can back and they want to come and watch every week.

“We want to play exciting football, we’ve got loads of lads that will run for the badge. We know there are going to be many more good games.”