Club Captain looks ahead to facing former club
Shrewsbury Town’s Club Captain Mat Sadler is hoping Town can keep their unbeaten run going against Walsall.
Town are currently unbeaten in 11 league games going into the derby and sit four points clear at the top of League One.
“I know Jon Whitney their manager - he was there when I was there”, Mat told the Press.
“Jon himself is a gritty guy, he’s a really determined guy, so he will want his team to mirror his personality if you like, but they play some really good football as well.
“I’ve just read something saying that defensively they’ve not been on it in recent weeks, so they will want to put that right, but I expect a really hard working team and a team that wants to do well for their manager.”
Town haven’t won at Walsall since 1993 and whilst Sadler understands that Walsall will be looking to end Town’s unbeaten start to the season, Mat is looking for Town to create a bit of history themselves.
“We haven’t won against them for quite some time, so there’s quite a lot that we would like to put right”, said Sadler.
“Our run will come to an end at some point and if we are at the top of the league then any team will want to beat us and stop that run, so this is just the next game on that list.
“There’s a little bit of added spice because we want to correct that 24 year run since we last beat them at their place, so that would be a big thing for us.”
Well over 1000 Town fans are expected to make the short journey to Walsall and Sadler hopes they can produce a good atmosphere.
“If the fans could create a cauldron like atmosphere that would be fantastic”, Mat said.
“They are at the far end, so if they could blow the ball out when they are attacking and suck it in when we are attacking that would be great.
“This season, home and away, they’ve really got behind us. I think the fans have been quite savvy in how they’ve watched the games and they’ve known when we’ve needed a bit of a lift and got right behind us.
“Fingers-crossed, on Saturday, it can be another occasion where they can be right behind us and I can only stress how much that helps.”