Zak Jules giving his all for Walsall opportunity

The 22-year-old had a long spell out of the side, but came in from the cold when he started against Cheltenham.

Despite only lasting 45 minutes in that 3-1 loss, the centre-back is determined to push his fellow defenders all the way to earn a regular starting berth.

“The boys have done brilliantly,” he said.

“The likes of Scarrsy (Dan Scarr), he’s come on leaps and bounds, he’s been a brick wall.

“It’s brilliant to watch.

“Sads (Mat Sadler) as well, you can’t tell his age one bit, and also James Clarke. There’s plenty of competition, but that’s down to me to put my all in and when I get that opportunity I need to showcase what I can do and push for a place in the team.

“There is some quality back there, they are doing well and we have kept a lot of clean sheets this season.

“It’s down to me to push the other lads and put on the pressure.

“There’s no point playing football if you don’t want to win games.

“Every single one of those boys in there want to win football matches. We’ve started 2020, the New Year, in that fashion.

“You start as you mean to go on, so hopefully we can find a certain level of consistency and pick up a lot more points in the second half of the season.

“Keep pushing up that table and at the end of the season see where we are.

“What will be, will be.

“We just have to pick up maximum points and see what happens.”

Meanwhile, manager Darrell Clarke has heaped praise on the Walsall fans for their continued support, which has seen several large away followings this season.

“To be honest, all season the support has been great,” he added.

“There’s been a few disappointing results along the way and a few angry fans.

“But in general the support has been very, very good.

“So we’re very thankful for it as always.”