Reece Flanagan vows to fight for more Walsall starts

The 23-year-old, a graduate of the Saddlers youth academy, has been a regular on the bench for Jon Whitney’s side throughout the 2017/18 campaign and also started three games in the Checktrade Trophy.

But it wasn’t until the New Year’s Day trip to Plymouth that the midfielder got his first league start of the season.

And after putting in an impressive display at Home Park, Flanagan is now hoping he has impressed Whitney enough to keep his place in the team.

“I’d been waiting a long time for that first league start,” he said.

“It was great for me to get into the team and I thought I put in a performance.

“Hopefully I have given the gaffer something to think about and I can now keep myself in the team.

“For me the target now is to play as many games as I can. I want to chip in with the odd goal and hopefully help us climb up the table.”

Flanagan was at the centre of arguably the biggest talking point of the match in Devon – with the midfielder being bundled over in the box by a Plymouth defender.

The Birmingham born schemer had collected the ball after goalkeeper Remi Matthews had parried a Zeli Ismail shot into his path.

And the Saddlers star was adamant he should have been awarded a penalty.

“I thought our performance at Plymouth was up there,” he said.

“I thought we played well and created a lot of chances away from home.

“It was really disappointing to lose the game. They had a couple of shots from long range. But they didn’t create anything sinister that troubled our goal.

“We were really disappointed to concede and we should have had a penalty as well.

“It was a penalty. I have chested it down in the box. I am about to shoot from 10/12-yards out. I’ve got no reason to go down. It was free effort on goal.

“But I have been pushed in the back. It was a blatant penalty.”

Walsall now have a break before they return to competitive action with Oxford visiting the Banks’s Stadium on December 13.

And after going on a run that has seen them fail to win in five games, Flanagan says the players must use the break wisely.

“I think this is a welcome break for a few of the lads – some of them have played a lot of minutes in a short space of time over the festive period,” he added.

“But we have to use this break now, work hard in training and get back to winning ways.”