Dean Keates: Walsall players have to live with pressure

The Saddlers kick-start three games that are likely to go a long way to defining their season when they host rock-bottom Bury at the Banks’s Stadium tomorrow.

That clash is then followed by games against Oldham and AFC Wimbledon, two teams also battling at the wrong end of the table.

Currently two points above the drop zone with seven matches to play, Walsall know their fate is in their own hands.

And Keates says it’s vital the players go out and seize their chance to stay in League One.

“Bury is massive – but it’s not just this game that is massive, all games are big for us now,” the boss said.

“Bury is the most important because it’s the next game.

“There is pressure because we need to win. It’s a must not lose game for us. The teams below us are creeping up.

“But pressure is what it is. You get to the point where you can only protect players so much. They have to deal with it.

"You have to put trust into players to go out and make the right decisions.

"Our fate is in our own hands so we are accountable for ourselves.

"We know what we have to do and we are fully focused on picking up the points we need.”

Walsall enter tomorrow’s game having lost their four matches without scoring. Bury though have lost their last five.

And Keates says both teams will enter tomorrow game’s determined to put their recent poor form behind them.

“We have not won in four, we have not scored in four and we need to stop the rot,” the boss added.

“We need to pick up some points but all being well we will do that at the weekend against Bury.

“They are fighting for their lives so we know we are in for a difficult game.

“I watched them at Rochdale. They are at the bottom of the table and, like ourselves, they know they need to start picking up points.

“They know they need to get back to winning ways if they are going to have any kind of chance of getting out the relegation places.”