Walsall v Sutton preview: No hiding place at home for Saddlers after poor loss

The visitors from London still have a chance of making the play-offs, with eight games left and five points to make up, and will visit Bescot on a run of just one defeat in six games.

For Walsall it is one win in 15 league games now and Flynn, who lambasted his players after the defeat at Wimbledon on Tuesday, has demanded a response.

He said: “There will be no place to hide in front of the home fans, if indeed there was at Wimbledon where over 300 people gave up their Tuesday evening to follow the team.

“Too many players went missing and I would say around 10 of them just didn’t put enough in for me, the team, or the fans.

“It is no good thinking we are safe or we aren’t going anywhere, that is not the point. It is professional pride and too many of them didn’t have that at Wimbledon.”

Flynn said the players would get ‘found out’ if it happened again and that their futures at the club are at stake

He said: “The owners have been over this week and I have had meetings with them, it has been very productive in looking ahead to next season.

“I have said it before, a lot of the players are playing for their futures, whether because they are out of contract, or if they don’t show me enough those futures will be elsewhere.”

Flynn demanded more aggression after the Grimsby game where a poor first half saw them one goal down. They got a point out of that game in the second half but at Wimbledon on Tuesday the aggression was lacking.

Flynn said: “I did say it after Grimsby, we need to get to second and third balls first. We didn’t do any of that at Wimbledon.

“Was it because they weren’t putting 100-per-cent effort in? You would have to ask them that.

“We worked on set-plays in training like short corners and then when it comes to a game they do the exact opposite of what we had planned, so I wonder sometimes whether they listen.

“But you certainly get found out when you return to play at home, there is no hiding place and the fans will let you know if they are not happy, and rightly so.

“Sutton are on a good run and have done amazingly well since coming up from the National League, finishing eighth last season and now challenging for the play-offs.

“They will be on the top of their game and we can’t afford to be anything less than that if we want to get something out of it.

“We owe it to the fans to put on a performance – we did against Gillingham and need to in the remaining home games, anything less than 100 per cent and they will see that because they are far from stupid and will be able to tell.”

Jamille Matt may be fit for selection for the Sutton United game after recovering from a shoulder injury.