Sam Hornby urges Walsall to "embrace" pressure as he aims to make his mark
Sam Hornby insists that pressure is a "privilege" and has called on Walsall to embrace the challenge of fighting at the top of League Two.
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Walsall head into the weekend with a three-point lead at the League Two summit and a further six points separating them from Doncaster Rovers in fourth spot.
Hornby made his first league start in five months during the 2-2 draw at Bromley last week and is poised to retain his place at Gillingham on Saturday following Tommy Simkin's England under-21s call-up.
After having to bide his time, Hornby is relishing his rare chance to make his mark.
He said: "How can you not look forward to it? This is what we want to do, we want to be at the right end of the league challenging for the right things.
"It's a privileged position to be at the top. We've earned every right to be up there and we've earned that all throughout the season.
"We've got to embrace it. We're up there, we need to get over the line there's no hiding behind that.
"So let's roll our sleeves up and take this challenge head on."
Hornby has had his moment in the spotlight with his shoot-out heroics against Birmingham City and Reading in the EFL Trophy earlier in the campaign.
However, he has been restricted to just two starts in the league, with Stoke City loanee Simkin firmly established himself as Mat Sadler's number one choice.
But Hornby views his status in the squad very differently and is by no means settling for a back-up role in the shadows.
The 31-year-old talked about using his time wisely during his time out of the XI and is eager to reap the rewards for his work behind the scenes.
"It's just having self-belief and self confidence, not being arrogant about it. I don't see myself as someone that is going to play second fiddle," he insisted.
"I want to play and I've made that clear to the manager and the staff. You've just got to have self-belief because people can just accept where they are.
"I've never been one to accept where I am. If I wasn't playing, I'd speak to Dan Still and we'd go through training or the game I had played, and we'll find different areas we can work on.
"In this opportunity when I'm not playing, where I can do different things and be more specific if it's gym work or certain technical areas.
"So you've got to use your time wisely. You don't just put your shoulders down if you're out the team, you've got to show everyone that you're good enough and you have that ability to get into the team."
