Martin O’Connor wants Walsall to win with a smile

The Saddlers travel to Montgomery Waters Meadow tomorrow knowing they have to win the game to have any chance of staying in League One.

But while they also need two out of three other results to go in their favour, fans will make the short trip to Shropshire with genuine hope after the Saddlers thumped Peterborough last weekend.

And O’Connor believes his players can reproduce that performance if they go out and enjoy themselves.

“We have to live on the positives we produced against Peterborough,” he said. “We have to and we will do again.

“We wanted a confident and shackle-free performance and I think we got that from 11 players.

“There’s no shackles been put on them. We’ve told them to go and play with freedom and not to be scared to make mistakes.

“The message before the game is just go and play with freedom and with a smile on your face, go and enjoy it.”

With Walsall needing to win tomorrow, O’Connor says he will remain solely focused on the game and won’t have anyone on the bench getting updates from elsewhere.

“I won’t be listening for results elsewhere,” the interim boss continued.

“Obviously, the fans will see what is going on and we’ll probably hear their reaction.

“From our point of view, it’s about focusing on what we do and what we can affect.

“Other results go for us, fantastic. If they don’t, we’re disappointed and we’ll have to lick our wounds.

“We know where we’ve let ourselves down over the course of the season.

“That’s got to be addressed and hopefully we kick on next season.”

Walsall have major doubts over injured trio Corey Blackett-Taylor, Morgan Ferrier and Matt Jarvis ahead of the game.

“Corey Blackett-Taylor is still struggling with his hamstring,” O’Connor added.

“Morgan Ferrier is still struggling with his hamstring – we’ll assess it.

“Matt Jarvis (ankle), we’ve got a few niggles.

“But it’s about who wants to play in the occasion.

“If I could still play, I’d love to play in this game.”