Walsall caretaker Neil McDonald concentrating on the short-term

Caretakers McDonald and Mat Sadler were leading the Saddlers for today’s clash with Tranmere Rovers.

And McDonald, who served as assistant to the now-departed Matt Taylor, is looking at things on a day-to-day basis.

“We’re just taking it as it comes,” he said.

“We’ve been asked to prepare the team for the Tranmere game.

“So, let’s do the game, and then let’s see what happens.

“If it’s a win, then let’s see what happens.

“As I say, we’re just focused on the Tranmere game and no further. That’s all it is.

“With all due respect, I don’t think you can look that far ahead, can you?

“We’ve been asked to prepare the team.”

Walsall went into today’s game against Tranmere looking to halt a seven-match losing run, which had left them 21st in the League Two table and just four points above the drop zone.

Experienced coach McDonald, having worked closely with the players throughout the season, has urged the squad to ‘work extremely hard’ to get out of the situation they are in.

“First of all, they have to do it for themselves,” added McDonald.

“They have to perform a bit better than what they have done over the last seven games.

“Before that, it was still a bit of a rollercoaster, I suppose, but we were getting some really good results – creating lots of chances and scoring some goals.

“Then, obviously we’ve gone through a patch where we can’t do either. We’ve been losing games.

“So, you’ve got to just pick the boys up.

“We had a really good session (on Thursday).

“They were a little bit quiet, but then they started to come out of their shell towards the end.

“They’ve got to give it their all and try a bit harder when they’re in possession of the ball.

“They’ve got to make smarter decisions, and they’ve got to stick together.

“We’ve got to work extremely hard for each other, and let’s see what happens.”