Express & Star

Darrell Clarke aims to build on firm foundations at Walsall

Walsall boss Darrell Clarke has expressed his delight with the ‘fantastic’ work of his defence while reiterating the need to sign forward-thinking players in January.

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The Saddlers were hoping to keep things tight against Macclesfield today at the Banks’s, having kept 11 clean sheets across all competitions going into the clash.

And Clarke said: “We’ve got the foundation there – 11 clean sheets across all competitions this season.

“It’s a fantastic return so far, and we’ve got to keep building on that.

“We’d like to add a bit more quality going forward, certainly. We’ve been very competitive, but we just haven’t scored enough.

“We went through a stage in October of making silly defensive mistakes, but, hopefully, we’ve put a stop to that now – and then we want to be more clinical.”

Clarke and the players prepared for the game at Lilleshall Sports Centre – the former FA base in Shropshire. They have trained there recently due to the pitches at their Essington training ground being waterlogged

“Our pitches at the training ground are very much under water at the minute,” added Clarke.

“We’re thankful the board have allowed us to come to Lilleshall and hire a couple of pitches.”