Sidebar

28
Thu, Mar
28 New Articles

Typography
AFTER smashing the club's clean sheets record last term, Clayton Ince has set himself a target of 20 shut-outs this time around.


The Trinidad & Tobago International has six league clean sheets to his name so far and is determined to add to this figure in the coming months.

"Six clean sheets so far is acceptable," said The Saddlers' Number One. "It's a figure to work from and I'm aiming at 20 clean sheets in the league by the end of the season.

"I'm not too far off course to getting to that figure. Players who succeed in football set themselves targets. Like strikers who want to score 20 goals in a season, as a goalkeeper I want to keep 20 clean-sheets."

After a relatively slow start to the season, Ince believes The Saddlers have now fully acclimatised to life in League One.

As one of the senior members of Richard Money's squad the 35 year-old keeper believes he has a duty to pass on his knowledge and experience to the current crop of rising stars making their mark on the first team stage.

"I think we have found our feet now," he added. "The team have gelled well and are putting in good performances and getting good results.

"We've realised that things you may have got away with in League Two, you do not get away with in League One. It took us a little while to adjust to that but we have done that now.

"There has been some adjustment made to playing at a higher level but have a lot of experienced guys in the team who have played higher and it has been our job to help the youngsters and lead the way.

"The kids are doing pretty well. As an experienced player it's my job to help keep their heads on their shoulders and give them advice.

"They have the skill and ability and the older guys can help them focus and progress."

Looking ahead to this weekend, Ince is expecting a tough afternoon as The Saddlers make the short journey to Northampton. With The Cobblers defeating Darlington in an FA Cup replay on Tuesday evening, this will be the first of two visits to Sixfields on consecutive Saturday's.

 "All games are difficult in this division. We don't take anybody for granted.

"We will go there, work hard and try and get a result.

"We have played well away from home this season and that is encouraging. We've shown that we're not intimidated by going to other grounds.

"To play Northampton twice in a row is no bad thing. We had the same thing with Swansea City earlier in the season, so we know what it is like to face the same twice in a short space of time.

"You just take each game a s it comes. Each game is different even if the opposition is the same."