Express & Star

Josh Gordon believes in Saddlers’ fight in relegation battle

Josh Gordon says Walsall’s players have refused to let their heads drop despite falling into the relegation zone.

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Despite putting in displays that arguably warranted a point, back-to-back defeats to Portsmouth and Sunderland have seen the Saddlers drop into the bottom four.

Prior to those loses though, Dean Keates’ side enjoyed a three-match unbeaten run, with a draw at Burton sandwiched between wins over Bradford and Fleetwood.

And with the team having now played well in their last five outings, Gordon is adamant Walsall can be confident heading into Saturday’s game with Barnsley.

“We haven’t let our heads drop,” the striker said. “Back at the turn of the year, some of our performances weren’t the best and that meant we didn’t know where to get our confidence from.

“But everybody who watches us at the moment can see that we are playing much better.

“We are playing on the front foot, we are pressing well and we are competing with teams who are much higher up in the table.

“The lads know we just have to keep going.

“We are only three points off position so you can’t look at it negatively as if we are going to go down.

“We are playing well and putting in good performances.

“It’s just about getting over that line now and grinding those results out.”

Gordon believes Walsall did enough to draw the matches against Portsmouth and Sunderland.

And he expects the Saddlers climb up the Leauge One table and away from danger in the coming weeks.

“The result against Sunderland didn’t justify the way we played,” Gordon added. “The Portsmouth game didn’t justify the way we have been playing either.

“When we head into the next few games, we have just got to keep playing positively and results will change for us.

“It is important that we keep on going. Southend are just one place above us, but they are only there on goal difference.

“If we keep playing as we have been we will be OK.”