Consistency is key for Hutchings.

Byline: Brian Dick

CHRIS Hutchings has warned his players the key to a successful League One campaign is not how Walsall fare against the division's big hitters but how they apply themselves to less illustrious opponents.

The Saddlers boss has been pleased with the way his men have taken on top flight Wolves and Premier League aspirants Albion and Bristol City this summer.

But he believes games such as tomorrow's trip to Brighton or Tuesday's jaunt to Accrington Stanley require as much, if not more, care than those to Leeds, Charlton or Southampton.

And in a division where such big names coexist with more modest opponents, the biggest challenge is paying the same level of respect to everybody.

"In preseason you play so called bigger teams like Wolves, Albion and Bristol City and sometimes you have a spring in your step to prove you can do it against those teams,'' he

Chris Hutchings.

said.

"It's when you play, with due respect, lesser teams you need to perform week in week out.

"That's always going to be the test.

"We see it time and time again a smaller team can beat a bigger team on a Tuesday night but on a Saturday they will get beat by a team they shouldn't or one in their league."

Walsall's first opponents Brighton fall between both stools. The Seagulls have spent a reasonable sum of money in the close season and Hutchings expects them to be a difficult proposition.

"They have bought the boy Liam Dickinson from Derby who I had when I was there. Glenn Murray is a good player, they have got some good players,'' he said.

"Russell Slade was similar to myself when he took over at Brighton last season and took over in the latter part. He has gradually stamped his own mark on the club."

The only player missing from Saddlers squad is Netan Sansara who is recovering from an ankle problem.