Joe Edwards: Walsall will build on last year

The Saddlers enjoyed a brief flirt with the play-offs last year before ultimately settling for a 14th place finish in League One.

Edwards though insists lessons have been learnt from what was his first season at the club.

And the versatile star is confident Jon Whitney's men will enjoy more success in the upcoming campaign.

“There were plenty of high and lows last season,” he said.

“It would have been nice to finish higher and challenge for the play-offs, which at one stage looked possible.

“We didn’t get off to the best of starts but once we found our feet and started to gel as a team, I thought we had a really good go for a while.

“On the whole, it was a learning curve for myself, a lot of the players and the manager.

“It’s something we can definitely build on and this is a big season for us – we want to be higher up the table.

“That’ll be the aim and what we’ll be working very hard to do.”

Before the competitive action gets underway, Edwards and his team mates will be playing a number of pre-season friendlies.

Midlands rivals Villa and Albion visit the Banks’s in July – and Edwards is looking forward to pitting his wits against teams from a higher division.

“You always want to play the top teams and in pre-season you get different games that you’re not really used to,” Edwards added.

“It’ll be nice to have a few higher-league teams come to our stadium.

"Hopefully we can put on some good performances.

“I know it’s all about fitness but it’s always nice to get a good result over a local rival.”