TRANMERE boss Nigel Adkins admitted he looked at the League Two table for the first time in weeks following his side's 2-1 home victory over Newport. 

The victory made it five games unbeaten in the league for a resurgent Rovers who are now six points above the bottom two.

"We're in good spirits coming into the festive season," said Adkins, ahead of Rovers' trip to Walsall this weekend. 

"We're winning games at home and more importantly we're picking up points away. We're seeing the lads come in every day and working very hard and we're doing everything we can to win a game of football.

"The win against Newport felt more than just three points - we had not won from being behind for 97 games and that's a long, long time. We have a mentality that is shifting in the right way and there was a belief in the dressing room at half time that we could win that game. 

"I showed the players a clip of when we scored the equalising goal and Connor Jennings was racing to get the ball out of the back of the net and Regan Henry was sprinting to the half way line, waving his arms and even though there was still half and hour to go the players knew the momentum was with us and the mentality of the players was bang on. 

"We're working together as one and we've got 31 players - that's a lot of bodies to keep engaged but we're building the understanding of what a team is.

"Saturday was the first time I've looked at the league table because it's always been about the next game and the next game gives us the opportunity to keep building momentum.

"It's the lads who are not in the team who have helped drive the performance of the lads who are in the team because they know they can't take their foot off the pedal."

The Saddlers have momentum themselves and have collected a pair of wins over Notts County and Alfreton Town in the past week.

"I've watched plenty of video footage of them and we know we've got to improve because it's going to be tough," said Adkins. 

"At Walsall they mix it up very well, where they can play out from the back, and they can play direct. They're not one dimensional, so in that way it gives us challenges that we're well aware of."