The club’s taken on board a supporter suggestion and negotiated with Centro and Midland to launch a new matchday special bus service to get people to and from the stadium!

Buses WFC1, WFC2 and WFC3 will run each matchday between now and the end of the season, so if you’ve had trouble getting to the match, here’s a great solution.

WFC1 runs from Walsall Wood, via Shire Oak, Brownhills, Pelsall and Rushall.

WFC2 runs from Lower Farm via Bloxwich (Park Road), Blakenhall and Coalpool.

WFC runs from Bloxwich (Turnberry Road) via Mossley and Beechdale.

Fares are 1.70 one way or three quid return. The service will operate for the Colchester, Wycombe, Tranmere, Hartlepool and MK Dongs games, and if successful will continue next season. More info on the official site here and a timetable is here (with a great photo of Swifty!)

It finished 2-2 at Bescot yesterday after the Saddlers led 2-0 but in-form Millwall hit back to grab an equaliser in injury time. Louse was at the game and offered these thoughts via the message board;

I had a strange unfamilar feeling as I left the game today , I think it was called ‘enjoyment’. Yes, I actually enjoyed the game.
For once we were entertained and the result literally to the end was uncertain.
First half I thought we were superb.Nicholls had plenty of time to take his goal but Ive seen players panic and miss in that situation – he had a cool head and cleanly put it away.Taundrys goal was a cracker and that should have been game over .
However a defensive howler a few mins later and Millwall were back in it -and after that we were always on the defensive.
My only two negative remarks are Richards, still dont think hes any good and a sending off really made it backs against the walls for the last 20 mins.Gray – I dont rate him at all – watched him closely and he is no use at all.
Positives – Well the Sun shone for a little while , lots of fit men in Army Uniform around for the Help the Heroes fund – oh you mean on the pitch…I thought Gilmartin second half did come out a lot and look more confident in his handling etc, Taundry and Nicholls both had good games and in the first half we showed we can play attractive passing Football.
Although leading all game to concede an equalizer at the death feels ike a defeat, however I think Millwall played well enough to deserve a point so a fair result.

Walsall fans everywhere should be saddened by the news of the death of one of the club’s greatest – Tony Richards.

It was always was of the player’s own jokes that the reason for his success was that he was the only one stupid enough to get his head in front of one of Colin Taylor’s bullet crosses, but that was just typical of an unassuming and very, very good footballer.

Tony was the centre forward when I first started out going, in the late fifties/early sixties and saw the club through its first “glory period” of the Fourth Division championship and the subsequent promotion to the second tier.

He made his debut for the reserves in September 1954, and then his first team debut only a fortnight later against Bristol City and a legend was born. By the time he left us, in March 1963, he’d bagged 184 goals and was our all time leading scorer (to be equalled by Alan Buckley later). He even went on to get another 30 League goals in 63 appearances for his new employers, Port Vale.

As the official site says, “He simply enjoyed scoring, it came naturally to him, and he was certainly the spearhead of the Walsall attack throughout the late 1950s, then helping the club win the fourth division title in 1960 and gain promotion to Division Two the following season. In both seasons he was the club’s top scorer, with 26 League and Cup goals in the first and 36 in the second.

If there is no minutes silence/applause this afternoon, someone down there will pay.

It’s another of the top teams in the Division tomorrow, and another attempt by the club to boost attendances, with its “armed forces” special. Let’s hope there are a few of them at the game, not to boost the attendances, but because it’s Millwall!

The defeat against Southampton has left Hutchings in something of a quandary. We are now 15 points away from the play offs and some 11 points clear of the relegation zone. In effect, the season is already over, barring a complete collapse, so the crowds are unlikely to come flooding back unless there is a drastic improvement in the quality of the entertainment on show. For most of this season, that has been dependent entirely on whether the opposition play their football, as we’ve produced precious little. The possible return of a player has rarely been as enthusiastically welcomed as that of Steve Jones, should he start at last!

That, then, brings us to team choice.

Hutchings’s first decision will be whether to bring Ince back. Gilmartin wasn’t really to blame for the Southampton score, however, although some reports think he should have done better with a couple. Ince, for me, however, always gives the defence more confidence.

Weston and Hughes both played for the reserves in the week, so are available, but I haven’t seen any reports about Westlake. I always prefer players in their correct positions, however, so I’d go with Weston, Smith and/or Hughes, and/or MacDonald, Vincent or Richards.

In midfield, Till is back in training, but is, thankfully, not fit, so Jones should return. Mattis is classed as 50/50. He has had the stitches removed from the gash in his leg he sustained against Brentford and is back training with his team-mates, it just remains to be seen whether he will be match ready. Personally, with nothing at stake, I don’t see any point is risking him. Bradley, O’Keefe, Taundry, Richards and Gray are the candidates for the other positions.

Up front, Parkin is still injured, so it’s a straight choice between Nicholls, Deeney and Byfield.

Marc Laird could be added to the Millwall squad for the trip.
The midfielder has been sidelined since mid-January with a rib problem but is close to being fit.

Laird’s recovery means Gary Alexander is the only member of the Lions squad currently in the treatment room. The striker, who has been out since October with a heel injury which required surgery, has started jogging and has been pencilled in for a return in April.

Neil Harris, who has been nominated for League One player of the month after hitting five goals in February, will start in attack again.

Predictions?

Millwall Manager Kenny Jackett is on the shortlist for manager of the month after four wins from five matches has left the Lions on the brink of the play-offs. Their overall away record is won 4, drawn 6, lost 6. That is remarkably similar to our home record of won 5, drawn 7, lost 5. This seems to have draw written all over it.

From Pedagogue:

Saddlers 0 0 Tesco Bagladies
at the Bonks’ssss

Attendance:- not announced, but there was a decent-sized crowd in the Text999OAP stand.

Walsall (4-4-2)
Clayton Ince

Jonathan Borrajo
Rhys Weston
Mark Hughes (Capt.)(Alex Hickman, 74 min.)
Netan Sansara

Sean Geddes
Mark Bradley
Richard Davies
Sam Adkins (Jordan McCourt, 79 min.)

Steve Jones (Dan Partridge, 65 min.)
Jamie Paterson

Unused substitutes:-
Rory Wood
James Wren (gk.)

Manager:- Martin O’Connor

I can only guess that both teams had decided to give up goalscoring for Lent! Rarely have I seen such ineptitude in front of goal. Comparing the respective wage bills of the two teams, though, I would say that the Baggies have the bigger problem. Both teams spurned penalty opportunities, Walsall in the 58th minute when Jones blazed way over the bar and Albion, right at the death, in stoppage time of the second half as Joss Labadie shot tamely straight at Ince. The visitors had started strongly, totally dominating their Walsall counterparts in midfield with their pace and physical presence. Only some desperate last ditch tackles by the Saddlers defence kept the visitors at bay. However, as the game wore on, the Saddlers came more into the game. A draw maybe flattered Walsall a little but not by much.

Ince was generally sound and made some vital blocks but we did have the inevitable “Incy Moment”, shortly before half-time, when he made a complete “pigs-ear” of a relatively simple kicked clearance. Incidentally, the two ‘keepers, Ince and Dean Kiely, have made 90 full international appearances between them. I wonder if that is a record for this level of football?

In defence, triallist, Borrajo, made a nervous start but settled down o.k.; the experience of Weston and Hughes was needed in the first half-hour and they got some valuable match practice; Sansara was o.k., nothing special but nothing dreadful, either.

In midfield, Geddes showed promise in flashes but on the other flank, Adkins contributed little and was frequently out-muscled by his Albion opposite number, Giles Barnes. In the centre of midfield, Bradley continues to frustrate – just the occasional classy touch but, all too often, he failed to impose himself against admittedly very powerful opponents. Davies, on his return from loan, was the pick of the midfield and he at least looked like a player striving for a first-team place and a new contract.

Up front, Jones got in 65 useful minutes match practice. He looked sharp – just a shame about the crud penalty! Paterson is a very skilful young player and he showed some classy touches. However, he struggles with the physical side of the games. When he learns to deal with this, he will be a very good player.

It’s a chance for many fans to cross another ground off the list of away venues tomorrow, with the Saddler’s first ever visit to the St Mary’s. The question has to be, however, which Walsall team will turn up?

It didn’t take long for the euphoria surrounding the Leeds win to evaporate. There was, first of all, the welcome three points, but poor show, at home to Brentford, immediately followed by the terrible performance against Yeovil and yet another home defeat. The nature of the football has been poor and the crowds disappearing fast. It does have to be said, however, that we are doing better away from the Banks’s, where Hutchings’ seeming inability to play anything other than two strict banks of four and the general lack of creativity doesn’t matter so much, as we are not having to try and break teams down. Against that, the away trip is to the home of the best footballing side I have seen this season so far, one which gave us a proper lesson at home. I don’t think we can afford to give possession away as often and as cheaply as we did in either the Yeovil or Brentford games.

On top of all that, Hutchings will have some choices to make. Ince’s booboo on Tuesday hasn’t been the first recently and Gilmartin will be eager to get a chance. Of the injuries, Weston and Westlake have returned to training and Vincent should be over his ankle knock from Tuesday. That means that, for the first time for a while, Hutchings will have all of his first choice defenders and their standins available. It’s going to be a difficult balancing act deciding what action to take, if any.

In the middle of the park, Mattis and Till are still missing and we will be hoping for a return for Jones, although there was no sign of him on Tuesday. Nicholls will, in the absence of Till and Jones, continue on the wing, unless Hutchings decides to go for a wingless approach (or unless Jones returns), in order to use his pace up front, but I think that’s unlikely. He will also be pondering whether to recall Bradley after O’Keefe’s ineffective outing against Yeovil.

Up front, Parkin is still out, so there’s likely to be no change, unless Nicholls moves up there.

As for Southampton, they will welcome back impressive French midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin from a knee injury. Defender Dan Seaborne (knee) is also back in contention, but Lloyd James and David Connolly (both ankle) are still a fortnight away from a return, so we will only be facing one of their potent usual strikeforce, in the not inconsiderable shape of Lambert.

Predictions?

Southampton go into this game five points behind us, but with two games in hand. Manager Alan Pardew is refusing to write off their play off chances, despite starting the season with that points deduction. Their home record is won 7, drawn 4 and lost 2, scoring 25 and conceding 13 in the process. A daunting prospect, then, despite our more than reasonable away record. I think I’ll have to go for a home win.

A performance barely worthy of the name ‘football’ saw Walsall slump to a dismal 0-1 defeat at home to previously lowly Yeovil. The game never got going for the Saddlers, or the pitiful 2,929 hardy souls who turned out tonight.

The club official website’s headline “Snow joke as Saddlers slip” was an amusing diversion for a moment, until one realises the importance of this atrocious result. While the season was never going anywhere even before the match, it appears that the players and management have no concept of playing for pride, no concept of entertainment, no concept of tactics and no concept of winning a game at home.

This clueless approach leads one to wonder at the victories we have achieved in this campaign – have we actually put any tactical plan into action, or are these just the result of blind chance in the league of averageness?

One certain fact: Crowds of under 3,000 will become the norm down Bescot Crescent if things do not change. That prospect should fill the fans, the club and the owner with dread.

wednesburysaddler summed up the game with this masterful post on the match thread:

gutless spineless rubbish crud waste of time bunch of puddings with the worst tactician of a manager ive ever seen

My “Proud To Be A Saddler” coffee mug will remain at the back of the cupboard until such time as I feel I agree with the sentiment it expresses. I’m ashamed.

For a club with a proud record of giant killing exploits in the two Cup competitions, such as ours, there’s nothing quite as bad as being on the other end of one of “those” results (Slough, anyone?). That makes the otherwise inoffensive Yeovil Town one of my pet hates, as they’ve done it to us twice. We lost to them in the Cup as a non league side in 1960/61 of all seasons, when it was our only defeat at Fellows Park, I believe. The other game I always remember, is losing to them after extra time in the most boring god awful game of football in an FA Cup replay in the nineties. I was sitting in what is now the family stand, freezing to death, on a night which was so cold, it mad Scott of the Antarctic’s exploits look like a sunbathing trip. The game was so awful, in fact, Mike Cecere looked easily the best player on the pitch! All of that means I always hope we stuff ‘em.

Chris Hutchings has got some problems ahead of the game, as the team go for their third win on the bounce and, hopefully, a better performance than of late. Weston is still missing and his replacement, Westlake, had to be substituted on Saturday with an injury. Mattis was carried off and will be missing for two to three weeks at least, while Parkin is also still injured. He didn’t take the risk of bringing Jones on against Brentford, so that makes me think he’d like to give him longer before risking him from the start. I think we’ll see the team that finished on Saturday:

Ince, Smith, MacDonald, Vincent, Richards, Nicholls, Bradley, Taundry, Gray, Deeney, Byfield.

Yeovil are likely to be boosted by the return of their on-loan Tottenham midfielder Ryan Mason ahead of the game. The Spurs youngster has been sidelined by a knee injury and missed Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Charlton and the 1-0 home loss by Colchester as a result.

Glovers boss Terry Skiverton said: “I think Ryan might be ready to return. He’s getting over a slight knock but he’s someone who would be a great addition to the squad.”

Skiverton is also able to call on fit-again Jean-Paul Kalala and Gavin Tomlin.
The pair were ruled out of the defeat by Colchester but, as anticipated, returned to Town’s squad on Saturday and were both introduced as second-half substitutes.

Predictions?

Yeovil go into this game in fifteenth place, just four points clear of the relegation zone and eight points behind us, so they could do with some results. Their away record, of won 2, drawn 5, lost 9, however, suggests that not many of those results are likely to come away from Huish Park, as they’ve scored 14 goals in those 16 games, conceding 26. This really, really should be a home win.

It was another mind numbingly boring afternoon at the Banks’s, as we mustered just three shots on target, but, fortunately, this time two went in. giving a home victory at last!

WFC Rob gives this week’s match report and, to be honest, I have to agree with almost everything in it. Personally, I’d have given Man of the Match to MacDonald, as he was the only player who didn’t make any mistakes (Vincent may have pushed him close, if he hadn’t have misjudged the cross for the goal).

I think Brentford also deserve some credit for at least rying to play some football on the puidding of a pitch.

Good win today in the sort of game we’re used to losing. The pitch was difficult and Brentford were typically tough to play against.

I think Hutchings called it well after the game when he said that we were just too lethargic in the first half. Every pass was made to look like the most difficult of chores and the ball ended up in the stands far too often. Whilst I wouldn’t go as far as saying they deserved to take the lead, they had shown marginally more intent to get the ball down and play than us, so their opening goal didn’t come as too much of a shock. I think Vincent made a bit of a hash of things – no striker should be given the time to chest the ball down that close to goal.
The one moment of reasonable quality in the first half from our point of view produced our goal. A turn of pace by Westlake left his marker on his backside, Byfield made the right run, held the ball up well and put it on a plate for Nicholls to finish well. It was nothing too difficult, but was perhaps the only bit of quality shown by us in the first half.

The one thing we changed in the second half was our tempo. Taundry got himself on the ball a bit more, and we kept the ball well down the left at times. It was disappointing to see Byfield squander two good chances by over-doing things inside the box, but the previously erratic Nicholls came up with another rare piece of quality to give Deeney an easy finish. What followed was a professional spell of keep-ball, which was pleasing to see even if Smith almost got himself an unecessary red card.

We’ll probably played better than that previously this season and lost, so it was good to see a hard-fought win at home, particularly now that next year’s season tickets are on sale. I thought our best performers were McDonald (who commanded the air despite his long ball game being wide of the mark), Taundry (who looked to keep things simple on a difficult pitch) and Nicholls (who came up with two rare moments of quality). Other than that, I think we’d be looking at 6 out of 10 ratings for the majority, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

It’s not often I agree with old football clichés, but Chris Hutchings is absolutely spot on when he said this week that the win on Tuesday at Elland Road means nothing if we don’t go out and get a result at home on Saturday against Brentford. The interest raised by the win at the League leaders is likely to bring more punters in on Saturday, so the pressure will be on the players to produce a performance, something which has been woefully lacking at the Banks’s at times this season, especially in the last two games, where we mustered just three shots on target.

That lack of home form is what is holding the team back at the moment. Granted the absence of any atmosphere doesn’t help, but it has to be said that the lack of a creative spark in the side leads to too much long ball football and few chances being made. The signing of Julian Gray may well address some of that particular issue, but the return of Steve Jones would also be most welcome, as his replacement, Till, has been mostly disappointing. The good news is that there is an outside chance of him figuring tomorrow.

Given Hutchings’ normal pattern, however, I don’t expect him to change a winning side, other than the possible return of Byfield for Till, with Nicholls moving to the wing (unless he is confident of Jones’s fitness, that is). That gives a probable starting XI of:

Ince, Westlake, MacDonald, Vincent, Richards, Till, Mattis, Taundry, Gray, Deeney, Nicholls.

As for Brentford, midfielder Marcus Bean has declared himself fit for the game.

The Bees “midfield general” has been sidelined since last month with a knee injury, but returned to full training this week. However, the 25-year-old admits he may have to settle for a place on the bench at the Banks’s because of the form of Kevin O’Connor and Toumani Diagouraga.

He said: “I feel a lot better. The injection worked, and I’ve been training all week with no effects. I felt I done well before I got injured, but Toumani has come in and done brilliant, so I’m not going to be knocking on the gaffer’s door just yet.” (“Done brilliant”? Will footballers ever learn to speak English correctly and find out about adverbs?).

Predictions

Brentford go into this game in mid table, just two points behind us, with a game in hand. Their away record is nothing to shout about, with 3 wins, 3 defeats and 7 draws, but we do have to remember that our home record is very poor, consisting of just 4 wins, 7 draws and 4 defeats. Brentford’s difficulties are summed up by the fact that they have scored just 7 times in those 13 away games, while conceding 14. If ever a game had 1 – 0 to the home side written all over it, then this is it, but I can’t help thinking we need to show more than just a competent narrow win, if there are more fans there as a result of Tuesday night. We shall see.