Jamille Matt says Walsall must take advantage of the moment
Walsall’s FA Cup match-winner Jamille Matt insists the Saddlers must use the turnaround in momentum to prove they are a better team than the league table shows as they welcome Tranmere to Bescot on Saturday.
The experienced striker, who has found opportunities limited so far this season, notched his first goal of the season in Tuesday’s second-round replay win against Alfreton Town, booking a plum third-round tie away at Southampton on the first weekend of January.
Coming off the back of an excellent League Two win at high-flying Notts County, which brought an end to a run of six in the league without a win, Matt is keen for the team to use this week as a springboard for what is to follow.
“Momentum is a massive thing in football,” he explained. “I believe we are a lot better than we have shown in the league table. Results haven’t gone our way in the last couple of months or so, but we showed how good we are on Saturday, and we have shown that against some of the better teams in this league.
“It’s about consistency – we have a young group, and we are trying to get that consistency going.
“I think we are on our way to getting it now and once we do, we will climb the league.”
Matt was delighted to finally get off the mark on Tuesday night, and said Walsall needed to show different parts to their game to ensure they made progress.
“Credit to Alfreton, they gave us two tough games in the last week, and were all out right to the end,” he added. “We had to show what we were about and while we were a bit sloppy in the second half, we defended really well and came up with the clean sheet.”
