Josh Gordon's goals will come for Walsall

The 24-year-old is yet to score this season and has often been used coming off the bench.

“I think he will be (lacking confidence),” Dutton said.

“It’s natural if you haven’t scored for a while, strikers that’s all they want to do, score goals.

“It’ll come for Josh. We said to all the strikers it’s peaks and troughs, sometimes you get them and they’re on fire and sometimes it takes a while for them to get on a run.

“Similar to us, we haven’t got going this season, we haven’t created enough opportunities for the strikers, they’ve been feeding off scraps and hopefully we can do more to give them opportunities to score goals.

“I’m sure they will, all four of them have got good qualities and they’ll come to the fore.

“We can name numerous strikers who don’t score goals and we think they’re not strikers and then all of a sudden they hit the purple patch and they can’t stop scoring.

“He needs to keep his confidence, keep his belief and he needs to keep putting himself in the right situations to score goals.

“It’s no good if he starts coming away from the goal – he’ll get there, he’s got a great work ethic, he’s got a great attitude and I’m sure he’ll get there.”

The other Saddlers assistant manager, Marcus Stewart, has also been praised for his part in helping the club’s forwards.

The former Premier League striker, who played for several clubs including Ipswich Town and Sunderland, has pedigree scoring goals at the highest level.

“If you can’t take tips from Marcus Stewart then you’re struggling aren’t you,” Dutton added. “He’s got the experience, he’s been through the situations Josh has been through and he’s obviously come through the other end and scored many goals.

“The lads have got full confidence in Marcus, rightly so, because he’s a top, top coach and has that top experience that he can lean on.”

One player who has benefitted from Stewart’s coaching is winger Wes McDonald.

The 22-year-old scored his first goal in professional football against Crawley and has turned out some impressive performances in recent weeks.

“For Wes McDonald, he’s had to feed off scraps and he’s took his opportunity,” Dutton said. “He’s come into the side and has scored a great goal (against Crawley) and assisted the other goal.

“We’re delighted with Wes so far, he’s that positive energy that we need in the team, he’s not looking to play backwards or sideways, he wants the ball, he wants to commit someone and he wants to make something happen.

“Albeit sometimes it’s the wrong decision to do that, sometimes it’s an opportunity to keep possession but that’s what we want, we want confidence and positivity and Wes definitely gives us that.”