Walsall’s faith a big boost for loan ranger Jake Scrimshaw

The 20-year-old, who is on loan from Championship club Bournemouth, has made nine appearances for the Saddlers since joining in October – becoming more of a regular in the first team while Josh Gordon recovers from a knee injury.

Scrimshaw has started the last two league games and has put in a shift playing out of position on the left wing.

The trust to start the youngster, and start him out of his natural position, he insists can only be a good thing.

“I’m really enjoying it,” Scrimshaw said. “It is really nice to have that faith, even playing me out of position and trusting me there.

“Just trusting me to play is really nice.

“It’s been nice to get in and around a first team environment and I’ve enjoyed it.

“It’s been really nice to get some experience and I’m hoping for a goal, at the moment it’s not gone my way.

“Hopefully over time I can get some more minutes and get a couple goals.

“I try my hardest every game and at the moment the ball is just not falling my way.

“I’ve had chances, blocked, hit the bar, it’s one of those things.”

Scrimshaw’s loan ends in January, with Gordon expected to return to fitness in December.

Walsall may want to keep hold of him to add depth to their squad, with Bournemouth currently paying 100 per cent of his wages.

But Scrimshaw himself has remained coy on the subject. When asked if he would like to stay for the remainder of the season, he said: “It’s one of them that’s down to the club and up to Bournemouth as well.

“We have to wait and see.”

Meanwhile, defender Dan Scarr insists the players must demand more from each other if they are going to have a successful 2020/21 campaign.

“We keep saying it, we should have more points on the board from the games we’ve had,” Scarr said.

“If the luck isn’t going your way then you’ve got to create your own luck, but we’ve just got to be better.

“There’s no two ways about it, we’ve got to be better if we want to do well in this league.

“You’ve got to take it to teams, you’ve got to be better on the ball, you’ve got to be better defensively and you can’t have the sloppy mistakes, we’ve got to take responsibility. I think sometimes we lack that someone to take hold of the game and take it to them and we just need to be better.

“I’m a centre-half and I need to be commanding, I need to try and pull people into position and be as dominant as I can.

“I think we can talk a little bit more all over the pitch. There’s some areas where we are quieter. It’s one of those things, it’s hard to teach. We’ve got a lot of young lads and everyone is starting to get more experience but in terms of leaders there are a few of us and we need there to be more. The younger lads are starting to do it and are starting to be more demanding and that’s what we need.

“I always see myself as a leader whether I’m captain or not or if Clarkey or Guths are in – that’s just my game. Overall, we need to talk more on the pitch and the lads are starting to do that this season and that’s why we’ve been a better team this season than last but we just need a bit more.”