Walsall boss Jon Whitney eager to take on promotion hopefuls

Goals from Matt Preston and Erhun Oztumer saw the Saddlers extend their unbeaten run to five matches with a 2-1 victory over Northampton on Saturday.

Whitney's side secured the win in dramatic circumstances after Marc Richards missed a stoppage time penalty for the visitors.

The result leaves them just four points outside the League One play-offs with a trip to third placed Bolton at the weekend before they then face second-placed Scunthorpe on Valentine's Day.

And Whitney says his players are excited by the challenge of taking on their promotion rivals.

"We'll go to Bolton determined to keep this run going," the boss said. "We keep sneaking up on those play-off places and we'll keep doing what we do. We won't change our message.

"The pressure is on both Bolton and Scunthorpe. The expectancy is on them. "We can go there and just do what we do, frustrate teams. But teams are going to be wary of us now and I can see why.

"We're very solid, we're hard-working, we're organised and we've got a threat.

"I don't think either of them will fancy playing Walsall at the moment so we are looking forward to going there and trying to upset the big guns."

Meanwhile, Whitney praised goalkeeper Neil Etheridge after the Philippines international produced a string of impressive saves having initially been at fault for Northampton's goal on Saturday.

The glovesman dropped a routine free-kick to allow John-Joe O'Toole to open the scoring but made up for the error with some important stops as Walsall held on for all three points. "He (Etheridge) has pulled us out so many times this season and he was disappointed with the goal at half-time," Whitney said.

"But he didn't let it affect him too much.

"Then, because he's stayed concentrated, he's pulled the saves off late on.

"That's what Neil does – he's a top, top keeper and it's great to have him in my squad.

"To get through the window and not lose Neil was a big, big plus for me."