SAM’S SO EAGER TO PLAY IT AGAIN
SOME worn-out players can’t wait for the season to end, but teenage Walsall midfielder Sam Perry just wishes it would keep on going.
You can understand the 19-year-old rookie’s enthusiasm. On a personal note, he only made his EFL debut for his home-town club at the end of February. Heading into the weekend, he had already notched up 11 League Two appearances in a month and a half.
From a team perspective, things are also looking up for Walsall. The Saddlers suffered a shock when manager Darrell Clarke left for divisional rivals Port Vale in mid-February and went on a 13-match winless run in the aftermath.
However, victories against high-flying Forest Green, 2-1 last Saturday, and Tranmere, 1-0 on Tuesday, have lifted the spirits and virtually guaranteed Walsall, who have appointed former Notts County and FC Halifax manager Jamie Fullarton as technical director, will be playing in the EFL again next term.
In fact, Brian Dutton’s men headed into yesterday’s game at struggling Colchester on the back of a six-match unbeaten run as they had drawn four in a row prior to their back-to-back home victories.
“It’s been a crazy couple of months really,” Perry told The FLP. “I wasn’t in the team, but the new gaffer has put his trust in me to start games and I can’t thank him enough.
“I wish the season could go on for a lot longer to keep my place in the team, but that’s the way football is. I have to play the games we’ve got left and hopefully kick on next season.”
It helps that Perry knows where he will be playing his football. Unlike many players around the country who will be worrying if a new deal will be put on the table, he penned a new contract of unspecified length last Monday to keep him at the Banks’s Stadium. “It’s brilliant,” said Perry, who netted his first League goal in a 2-1 defeat at Bolton last month. “Some of my family and friends are fans and season-ticket holders so it’s a great achievement for me to be playing here.
“I want to maintain my fitness levels and get into the gym and become stronger over the summer. Next season I want to keep getting more games and hopefully score more goals and get more assists.”
The physical aspect of EFL football and the importance of three points are two of the things Perry has noticed most in his early days in the senior ranks.
“I’ve been playing as a central defensive midfielder and at times I’ve been coming up against a big, strong striker,” explained Perry, who was on Aston Villa’s books as a youngster. “I’ve been working on that, to get up for my headers. I still need to become stronger.
“The game is more about the three points. At youth team level, it doesn’t matter as much. In League Two, you are fighting for the three points to climb up the table.”
Fighting
With results picking up of late, it hasn’t done head coach Dutton’s chances of staying in the position beyond the originally specified end of season date any harm at all. Perry believes the 36-year-old, who also previously worked under Clarke at Bristol Rovers, deserves credit for the way he kept the players believing when fortunes waned.
“The gaffer has been brilliant,” he added. “He kept the team together after defeats. He was telling us the results would come and that’s what happened.
“We’ve deserved the last couple of results and I think we deserved a couple more wins along the way. There’s a great feeling around the club and now we have to keep it going. Personally, I want to keep repaying his faith.”