Nicholls wants a full deck

The Saddlers have struggled with injury and suspension in recent months, but their walking wounded have begun to return.

Michael Ricketts made a scoring comeback in the 1-1 draw at Carlisle on Tuesday and Dwayne Mattis and Richard Taundry could return to the squad for Saturday's visit of Colchester.

Stephen Roberts is also nearing a return from injury and Nicholls is looking forward to having a full quota and a stable side.

He said: "With injuries it's hard, but, if you look at the most successful teams, they only change one or two players and most of the time the spine of the team is the same.

"Teams like Manchester United have that spine in their team and they are top of the Premier League. If you look back at the season we haven't had that many consecutive games where the team has been exactly the same."

Boss Chris Hutchings agreed with Nicholls, but reckons the Saddlers had to deal with their problems.

He said: "We have to juggle it about a little bit. If you've had your experienced players out it's very difficult to get through games, but that's what you have to do."

Nicholls believes once Hutchings has everyone available performances will continue to improve.

He said: "If we keep the same team, we'll play better as a unit."