Walsall's Isaac Hutchinson used 'wake-up call' to kick on
Walsall midfielder Isaac Hutchinson admits being dropped at Notts County and Accrington Stanley was a “wake-up call”.
Hutchinson had not scored a league goal since his hat-trick heroics against Gillingham in October when he was left on the bench for the trip to Notts County at the start of last month.
Ross Tierney’s hamstring injury presented Hutchinson with an early entrance, and he responded by setting up Oisin McEntee’s in a sensational comeback victory at Meadow Lane.
However, he was unable to build on that promising display in the win over Tranmere Rovers the following weekend, and was replaced at half-time.
That saw him reduced to the bench once again at Accrington, and Hutchinson feels as if his brief spell out of the starting XI has helped him come out the other side of a difficult spell of form.
Hutchinson revealed: “It was tough. I’ve not really had that feeling at Walsall other than maybe towards the start of last season.
“Obviously I want to help the team in anyway possible and I wasn’t totally happy with how I was playing. I know I expected more from myself in some of the previous games.
“There was a lot of frustration, but I spoke with the gaffer, I spoke with all the coaches, and we had good conversations.
“No one wants to get left out. All you can do when it happens is try and react.
“You’ve got to push even harder and use it as a little wake-up call, which I did. Now, I feel like I am out of the other side of that.”
Hutchinson scored a stunning free-kick in the 3-1 victory over Wrexham at the end of 2023, before bagging a brace and an assist in the 6-1 rout at Grimsby Town on New Year’s Day to extend his season tally to 11 goals.
The 24-year-old has hit double figures in a season for the first time in his career to overtake Freddie Draper as Walsall’s leading scorer.
“I’ve reached that milestone now of double figures, and I just want to kick on and get as many goals and assists as I can,” he said.
“I am not going to try and set myself an exact target or anything like that. I am just going to keep doing what I am doing really and just see where that gets me.”
