The Valiants will return home for the first time since New Year’s Day tomorrow when they welcome Leyton Orient to Vale Park, and Scott Burgess emphasised the confidence that is felt within the dressing room.
Tomorrow will be the Valiants’ ninth match in just 29 days over the busy Christmas and New Year run of games, but the midfielder stated how a return to home action has boosted morale for the team.
Walsall are the only side to have won at Vale Park this season and Burgess believes teams travel to Vale with fear, highlighting how much of an impact the fans and wider pitch have on the team’s performance.
Burgess admitted that when playing at the home the team feel confident they will find the back of the net and perform to their full ability, allowing them to be a match for any side in the league.
After defeat at Morecambe, the midfielder is hopeful that the team will bounce straight back to winning ways and extend their good home form with another three points as they look to keep climbing the table.
He said: “It’s been a long time since we played a home game, so it’s something we’re looking forward to, being back in front of our home fans, so hopefully we can put a good performance in and get the three points.
“We’re confident when we go out at home, we’ve got the backing of the fans and we always believe we’re going to score goals at home, if we can do the job defensively as a team, as a unit we can press, at home we always believe we’re going to score goals and I think it’s just confidence in the team that we know we’re going to go out there and majority of the time we’re going to play to the best of our ability, we’re going to win the game.
“That is our game plan at home, we like to press, be on the front foot and we’ve got the players in the team who can do that, there’s the likes of Jake [Taylor], [Luke] Joycey, myself and Tom Conlon, all the lads even the forwards, we like to press high and we’ve got the fitness to do that.
“I think some teams come here and they see the size of the pitch and they think maybe they can make it big and play around us but we’ve got the energy to go and press and we can also play when we’ve got the ball as well so I think that’s a big advantage for us.”
A key part of the midfield alongside Burgess has been Jake Taylor who has been on loan from Nottingham Forest, and Burgess expressed how much of a boost keeping Taylor would be for the club as they head into the second-half of the season.
Burgess also heaped praise on the rest of the midfield, with Tom Conlon being commended for what he has brought to the side since returning from injury.
It’s not just the midfield that Burgess praised however, as he credited the bond between the whole squad for the positive performances this season so far, saying how they help one another at all times.
He said: “Jake’s [Taylor] been a great player for us this season, he’s proved that with the goals he’s scored but not just that, the energy he brings into the team both on the ball and off the ball with the pressing, that’s obviously a big bonus to us going forward.
“I think, all the midfield really is good, Tom Conlon’s come in and the last few games done really well, so I think it just shows that we’ve got a very strong midfield and we can all fight for places.
“It [helping each other] comes with the togetherness, we all get on and that is important really, if somebody’s not pulling their weight, somebody else in the team will tell them to do that and nobody takes it offensively, it’s just one of them things within football, if you’re not doing your job you expect to get told by someone and everyone expects that and gets on with it.”