Taundry battling to regain place

The 20-year-old continued his recovery from a dead leg, which has kept him out for three weeks, with a 60-minute run-out for the reserves against Sheffield United on Tuesday.

Mark Bradley and Stephen Hughes have helped Saddlers to a three-match unbeaten run in his absence and Taundry is braced for the extra competition.

He said: "With the new manager the pressure is there for everyone to do well and there's that extra bit of competition. I'll just be doing my best and hopefully I'll be able to get back into the team."

The Saddlers travel to Northampton on Saturday with Taundry and Dwayne Mattis expected to make the squad, although Stephen Roberts is still a month away from returning.

The defender has a problem with a disc in his back, after initially being sidelined since December with a knee injury. Rhys Weston is also out for two weeks with a minor tear in his calf.

Taundry is relieved just to be back in the running for a return.

He said: "It was the first time I'd been out through injury and it was frustrating, because we had a few games on the trot and I missed two or three.

"It was a dead leg, but all round my knee had swollen so I had to wait for it to clear up. It was good for me to get back into it. I was meant to just get the one half against Sheffield United but I felt I needed the extra 15 minutes.

"Hopefully now I'll be able to get into the stride of things."