George Dobson’s delighted to skipper Walsall

The midfielder has been an influential figure since rejoining the Saddlers from Sparta Rotterdam in January.

Now though the former West Ham man has the added responsibility of wearing the armband after Adam Chambers broke his foot in the opening day victory over Plymouth.

And Dobson admits he is loving every minute in the role.

“It’s a great honour for me,” the youngster said.

“It’s a fantastic honour for any footballer to be captaining their team.

“I’m loving every minute of it. I’m loving the faith the gaffer is putting in me and I’m just trying to repay that on the pitch.

“For any player my age, all you want is to feel like you are an important part of the team.

“I feel like that here. I’m loving every minute of it and I’m going to keep giving everything I can for the football club.”

Walsall extended their unbeaten run in League One to seven matches when they secured a 1-1 draw at promotion favourites Barnsley on Saturday.

That result means they are one of just five clubs in the division who are still unbeaten.

But Dobson insists nobody is getting carried away.

“It’s been a fantastic start,” Dobson continued.

“We have all got faith in each others’ ability and we’re very happy with the way things have gone so far.

“But we know it is only a start. We now need to build on it.

“You can see that the boys are working so hard and fighting for each other.

“There is a dedication there and it’s the same in training.

“We are giving everything for the team, for the cause and for the club.

“But we’ve now got to continue to do that for the next 39 league games.”

Walsall picked up their point at Oakwell thanks to an 89th minute goal from Andy Cook.

But just seconds before, Jack Fitzwater missed a glorious chance to pull his side level.

Dobson though feels Cook’s goal epitomes Walsall’s team spirit – with the players determined to help each other out if a mistake is made.

“Jack had a great chance but we always talk about getting people out of trouble,” the midfielder added.

“Jack didn’t finish it off but that is where Cookie has come in and made up for it.

“We showed a lot of character in the game. We went 1-0 down against the run of play.

“We went to Barnsley and played on the front foot and really gave it a good go.

“But in football things always happen that you don’t want.

“When we went behind we didn’t stop, we carried on going and got a deserved equaliser.”