Walsall captain Chris Westwood has called on his team to show more confidence as they seek to fight their way out of League One relegation trouble.
The central defender expressed his conviction that his team are good enough to bridge the one-point gap between them and safety but said that they must play their way out of their tight spot.
"As a team we need to open up and play and possibly believe in our ability a bit more," Westwood said.
"The manager and the staff have all stressed that we need to settle down and think and maybe take a chance on the ball occasionally because we have the ability to play some football."
His comments are a far cry from the problems under previous manager Paul Merson whose side were guilty of over-playing rather than the converse.
Westwood urged Walsall to use the hardships they have endured in recent games, such as the 2-0 lead thrown away against Bradford City, to steel themselves for a final push.
"We're not out of this at all," he said. "We've had a few tough lessons to learn in the last few weeks but hopefully that will have made us stronger as a team and that could help us in the next few games.
"We've got seven games left and if we stop believing now we might as well finish the season here and now. I know from a personal point of view that we can get ourselves out of this because I believe we have the quality in the team to stay at this level."
One man who will not feature in their next game is on-loan midfielder Grant Smith who has been declared ineligible to face his employers Bristol City. ..SUPL:
