Joe Edwards: Walsall are aiming high

The Saddlers head to promotion favourites Wigan tomorrow eager to stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions to five matches.

Since losing at Rotherham on September 12, Jon Whitney’s side have faced Peterborough, Oxford and Charlton in League One.

All three teams have been tipped to be part of the promotion shake-up at the end of the campaign.

Yet Walsall have collected five points from those fixtures and arguably should have more following a string of impressive displays.

And Edwards believe those performances show the Saddlers have what it takes to finish in the top six.

“I think recent results prove we can be in that top six,” the vice-captain said.

“We believe we can do it. And that’s the most important thing – having that confidence and belief.

“After the Rotherham game, there could have been a lot of negativity. We had three or four very tough games coming up after that.

“But against Peterborough, Oxford and Charlton we have either come out on top or performed well.

“You have to take confidence from that. As long as we keep playing as we are and keep doing the basics right – there is no reason why we can’t be successful.”

Walsall’s victory at Oxford was their first on the road in 2017.

And Edwards believes that result has given the team a huge boost heading into the game at the DW Stadium tomorrow.

“It was a massive result for us,” the former Yeovil man continued.

“We have got that belief now that we can win away from home which is so important.

“We know we are good at home. We have been performing well away from home but we haven’t had the results.

“But I think we were fantastic at Oxford. Now we want to build on that at Wigan and really push on and keep this unbeaten run going for as long as possible.”

Of the 15 goals Walsall have scored in League One this season, 11 have arrived in the second half of their respective matches.

And Edwards believes the team’s fitness levels together with their quality means they are a team to be feared.

“We do a lot of work on the training ground on our fitnes,” he added.

“And we have got a lot of lads who enjoy working hard.

“I think that comes naturally to a lot of our players. For other teams it doesn’t.

“But we do the basics really well and we do work hard as a team.

“We have got that work ethic and a bit of magic as well with some of the players we have got. That bodes very well for the future.”