Walsall's Nicky Devlin raring to go after being given rest
Walsall boss John Whitney insists Nicky Devlin is raring to go after being given a couple of games off due to fatigue.
The 24-year-old right-back joined the Saddlers in the summer after turning down a new deal at Scottish Championship side Ayr United.
Devlin had been a regular under Whitney, making 14 appearances, before he was left out the of the squads for the 1-1 draw at MK Dons and the 3-0 win at Doncaster Rovers.
He was hoping to be back involved as Walsall hosted Southend United today.
On leaving Devlin out, Whitney said: "It was just fatigue, really. He has played a hell of a lot of games for us.
"He has come from the Championship up north, where they don't really play any midweek games.
"When you look at this time last season, he is now playing double the games to what he was used to."
At Ayr, Devlin was skipper and they would only train a couple of nights a week.
Whitney admits doing sessions every day at the Saddlers' Essington training ground took its toll on the Scot after a bit – and some one-to-one work was needed.
"He has come from training two nights a week to full-time," he said.
"He has got right through it and done really well, but we needed to just come back off it a little bit – give him some one-to-one sessions with me.
"We have rested him a little bit, and now he is chomping at the bit to try to get back into the team now.
"Liam Kinsella has come in and done really well and that's what we want, competition for places."
In terms of injuries, Whitney insists he has no fresh worries.
Promising defender Callum Cockerill-Mollett, aged 18, is making good progress with his knee injury.
He picked it up while on international duty with the Republic of Ireland's under-19s and is a couple of months away from being back in contention for games.
"We're ok. All we have now is Callum, who has a long-term knee injury," added Whitney.
"He is about two months away but doing really well. Everybody else has trained.
"We got through the under-23s game at Rushall Olympic (on Tuesday night) with no problems so there's a full squad to pick from.
"It's a nice problem to have."
