Ashley Hemmings vows to fight for his place at Walsall FC

The former Wolves winger has struggled to cement himself at the Saddlers and has made just 10 League One starts this term.

Hemmings' last came against Hartlepool in November – when he was taken off at half- time – and he has played just 21 minutes of football this year. The 21-year-old has been sidelined by the form of Febian Brady, James Baxendale and Jamie Paterson but insisted he is ready to regain his spot.

"It's a team game and I'm happy with what they're doing – but when I get my turn I'll be showing what I can do again," said Hemmings, who joined last summer after his release from Wolves.

"I'm not down – you can get down about it when you're not playing and thinking you should be, but it's a team game.

"I just know when my time comes then I'll take it.

"You are still involved because if you're training well then you're making sure other players are training well because they have to beat you."

Hemmings scored on his Walsall debut to beat Brentford 1-0 in the League Cup in August but has netted just once since, against Crawley in November.

He failed to make the grade at Molineux, playing just three games in four years before last summer's Saddlers switch.

But he insisted he is happy at Walsall, who go to Brentford in League One on Saturday, despite his lack of game time.

He said: "People want to be around the squad, everyone gets on, no-one is out for themselves or makes stupid tackles in training. We're too strong to break up.

"We stuck together in the bad run and we knew it was going to come together for us.

"We've proved it – we've proved a lot of people wrong because fans were getting annoyed with us.

"We started off well and they thought that was what they were going to see for the rest of the season.

"Now we're back on our run the spirit is around the stadium is great.

"That's the best thing to see – loads of smiles and everyone is happy."