Well, we know what to expect tomorrow night, as we only played Bristol Rovers on Saturday! Following yet another disappointing home performance, fans will be desperate to get something out of the return game. Chris Hutchings may have said that he was happy with a share of the spoils after the game, but he must be just about the only one. We are now just five points clear of the relegation places, with three consecutive away games to come. This one, Leeds and Oldham (one of the teams desperately trying to catch us).

The talk of making the play offs that abounding from the camp earlier in the season now looks to have been totally unrealistic, as we are now 15 points behind sixth place and in danger of being dragged into a relegation scrap. That might be not such a worry, if not for the fact we are just not creating any chances, with just 3 shots in target in the last 180 minutes of football at home.

It might also be time to remind Chris Hutchings that his record is won 17, drawn 17, lost 19, compared to his predecessor’s, the hapless Jimmy Mullen, of won 10, drawn 5, lost 14. Hutchings is averaging 1.28 points per game, Mullen 1.20 – almost identical. Remember also that Bonser’s stated reasons for sacking Mullen were a poor home record and falling gates. Well, this season, we have a home record of won only 4, drawn 7 and lost 4 and gates are plummeting.

So, that means that we have to try to get something out of this game. Hughes may have been on the bench, but he hasn’t trained and neither has Manny Smith. Weston is out, so the defence picks itself.

Up front, Deeney is available and will be likely to return (although I thought Parkin had a decent game considering the scraps he was getting). Byfield, however, looks out of sorts, but I don’t think Hutchings will take the drastic step of leaving him out.

That leaves the midfield. To me, Saturday proved Mattis and Taundry are too alike, but, if one were to be dropped, it’d be Mattis for me, as I thought Taundry had the better game. Nicholls ought to get the nod ahead of the ineffective Till, or Richards, who had his poorest game for some weeks on Saturday, but he probably won’t. I suspect Deeney for Parkin will be the only change.

As for Rovers, it’s just as difficult to predict their line up, as manager Trollope is holding out the prospect of loan signings (whatever they are) before the game. Just what we need, fresh blood.

Predictions?

Rovers’ away form wasn’t too good, so we had a decent chance to get three points on Saturday, but, quite frankly, never looked like it and, certainly, didn’t deserve it. At home, though, they tend to be a different proposition, with a record of won 8, drawn 1, lost 4. That “lost 4” looks a little more promising, of course, but I think we’ll be lucky to get anything out of this one.

A dour game by all accounts, summed up by the scoreline.

UTS regular ‘1933′ summed up all the action in his two paragraph post on the match thread here

Today was my first match of the year having missed the last 3 home games despite having a season ticket. I guess I’ve got out of the habit of going to the matches and today it was not difficult to see why. It pains me to say that I won’t be renewing for next season, unless things change drastically.

The starting line-up drained me of all confidence and it’s easy to say that what choice has Hutchings got with all injuries and suspensions but the guy has had plenty of opportunity to get signings in and he hasn’t so far. Starting Nicholls would have been more effective than Parkin or Till who have both had more chances then Nicholls this season and have failed to impress on every occasion.

All in all not the most successful day at work for WFC. We need to learn to find the back of this thing.

How hard can it be?

At the start of this run of late January/February games culminating in the trip to Leeds, I said that I thought that we needed to take seven points to stay comfortably out of trouble. Well, having lost to Norwich and drawn with Gillingham and Charlton, tomorrow’s fixture with Bristol Rovers has suddenly become another of those “must win” fixtures, followed as it is by two away games. Granted that the performances in the two home fixtures were much better, but now we are likely to be faced with severe injury and suspension problems.

Deeney will be missing, following his brainless sending off on Tuesday night, but it doesn’t stop there. Hughes and Smith both have injuries which have prevented them training, so Hughes’s appearance on the bench in the week was desperation stakes. Weston’s problem when he went off was a hamstring, so that should mean a couple of weeks, if it’s just a tweak, or six to eight weeks, if it’s a tear. Jones will still be, presumably missing, as he slowly turns into this season’s version of Stephen Roberts or Allan Picken. Trouble is, he’s a much more important member of the squad than either of those two unfortunates.

Hutchings’ main choice, given the paucity of resources, is who to play on the right wing and who to play in central midfield (given the near certainty of Parkin replacing Deeney). Nicholls did little on replacing Till on Tuesday night, so it’s a matter of pays your money and takes your choice there, but Taundry did enough to keep his slot ahead of Bradley. Of course, he might go completely left of field and play a 4 5 1, with Taundry holding and Bradley and Mattis having a free role, but I don’t think he’d take the risk of Byfield or Parkin as a lone striker.

As for Rovers, manager Trollope (still one of my all time favourite footballing names, from back in the days when it was his Dad, rather than him), has a couple of injury problems. There will probably be a few changes from the team that lost to Orient, as full back Aaron Lescott and top scorer Chris Lines are both suffering from injuries picked up in that game.

Trollope said: “We have got a couple of injuries. Aaron Lescott is going to be struggling with a hip flexor injury and Chris Lines had some severe abdominal pains later on in the game at Orient. He has not trained he is going to have a scan and is looking doubtful as well. Both of those players will be a blow for us, but it will give others a chance”.

Predictions?

Rovers lie ninth in the table, seven points better off than the Saddlers. Their record, both at home and away, though, is a curious mixture of good and bad. Away, which is what interests us until Tuesday night, at least, it’s won 4 (not bad), drawn 1 and lost 9 (terrible). They have conceded 29 goals away, including 5 in their last defeat at improving Orient. This, then ought to be a game we should win, if the reserve players do their stuff and we don’t get a ref like we did on Tuesday!

Referee Andy Haines ruined what ought to have been a great spectacle at The Banks’s’s’s Stadium when Walsall took on high-flying Charlton. In a display of petulence, embarrassing in it’s one-sidedness, he assisted Charlton to an ill-deserved away point. Haines is a prime example of a referee overawed by perceived big teams.

Blowing at least 16 times (BBC foul count), Haines managed to find enough space in his little book for the names of Dwayne Mattis, Clayton MacDonald, Troy Deeney (straight red) and Jamie Vincent.

There’s already a petition online to stop him refereeing in the Championship (he offended Plymouth when they played the Wendys last month). I urge people not to sign it, as that’ll mean we’ll see more of him in League One.

His stated aims (source: http://www.refworld.com) as a referee are “to demonstrate high ethical and moral behaviour, have unquestionable integrity and be off (sic) a strong character and that’s without be able to show empathy with the players, gaining there (sic) respect and being very fit”. From that list, I’m sure he’s very fit.

At the game, matt-thesaddler describes the team as follows:

Just got back. The WORST referee we have had in a long long time. Mattis booked for a perfectly good tackle, Vincent booked for time wasting, Deeney sent of for 2 so called fouls. First one should of been a good talking too, not a booking. 2nd was maybe a booking. But because the first wasnt a yellow, he shouldnt of been sent off.

Ince- Did ok, couple of good saves. But why he picked that backpass up I dont know.
Weston- Injured early so no chance.
Vincent- Did well for a left back. Solid, no mistakes.
MacDonald- Another class performance. Solid, good in the air (as we expect) and sprayed the ball round well. My MOTM.
Sansara- Not to bad but i prefer Vincent there.
Till- Quiet and backed out far to often.
Mattis- Booked early for a good challange so he couldnt really put some tackles in. Got picked up a couple of times by the ref for nothin before getting booked.
Taundry- Good game. Had a few quiet spells but he was very good today.
Richards- Did well against Norwich, not the best today.
Deeney- Took his goal well. Good performance. Can tell hes getting stronger. Daft sending off.
Byfield- Ran himself ragid again. Does seem to run around pointlessly at times. Did ok though

Westlake- Good performance. Better than Weston. Not MOTM though.
Nicholls- Had a couple of runs but didnt have much of a chance.
Parkin- Not on long enough.

Talk about it on the messageboards match thread

Saturday’s result was much better than it looked. Gillingham may be languishing in the lower reaches of the Division, but they do have an excellent home record, with seven wins and (now) five draws. There were worrying aspects, however, as the midfield was over run again and the defence had to be at its very best in order to achieve a shut out. It’s likely that they will have to show similar resilience tomorrow night, when third placed Charlton Athletic are the visitors to the Banks’s.

It seems strange to the younger fans, used to them being in the Premiership, but Charlton have been frequent visitors to the Saddlers over the years. They had been one of the country’s top team for many years, before being relegated from the top flight in 1957 and they then spent time between the second and third flights until the appointment of Alan Curbishley and their eventual promotion to the Premiership in 1998. During that time, they almost went out of business and spent some time wandering around in ground shares having lost the Valley.

It was also during that period that the famous “winner takes all” game was played between the two sides which saw the Saddlers relegated from the second tier. If you don’t know the story, it’s worth reading here:

http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/walsall-fc/2010/01/30/walsall-s-game-with-charlton-brings-back-memories-of-the-cruellest-of-relegation-campaigns-97319-25717964/

It will be interesting to see Hutching’s team selections following the game on Saturday. Even if Hughes is fit, should we break up the excellent Smith/MacDonald partnership? Should Jones still be missing, did Nicholls do enough to finally get a start ahead of the (so far this season as a whole) disappointing Till? Did the Taundry/Mattis partnership show better balance than his favoured Bradley/Mattis one?

As for Charlton, they’ve had a couple of disappointments at home recently, losing their unbeaten record at the Valley to Orient and only drawing against Tranmere (both teams towards the bottom of the Division). That means manager Phil Parkinson will be looking for a good result tomorrow, as they now have three away games on the bounce and the gap between them and the top is growing.

Dangermen?

Leading scorer is former Walsall loanee Deon Burton (12), followed closely by Nicky Bailey (10). Also watch out, if he’s back, for promising young midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, as the 17 year old has 4 goals this season, as has the tricky Lloyd Sam.

Predictions?

Charlton are in third place, five points behind Leeds. It’s their away record which is holding them down, as well, as they have drawn too many away from the Valley (6 wins, 5 draws, 2 defeats). I think we could get a draw from this, at least.

The League position is a little worrying at the moment. Of course, we do have games in hand on most of the Division, but those games include Leeds away and Charlton at home, so we need opportunities for three points to be taken. One of those crops up tomorrow, with the trip to Kent and Gillingham. At least, that’s the way it ought to be, as they are languishing in 19th place. That, as usual, doesn’t tell the whole story, however, and such is the way of this League, that a defeat for the Saddlers tomorrow will see the Gills level on points with us.

That makes this something of a pivotal game in the season and it’s strange how big an influence our opponents have had on the recent history of the club. It was, after all, the abject defeat at the Priestfield (now horribly renamed the KRBS Priestfield) that put the final nail in the coffin of Colin Lee as Manager, not to mention their draw at Joke City in the final game of that season which finally relegated us on goal difference. What we want now is for them to play a role again in getting the team back on track, following the confidence sapping defeat on Tuesday to Norwich City. That’s something that’s needed, as our next run of fixtures are Charlton at home, Bristol Rovers at home, Bristol Rovers away, Leeds away and, crucially, Oldham, the team fourth from bottom and now just five points in arrears, away. We badly need a haul of at least seven points from that lot.

All that having been said, Chris Hutchings has got problems for the game. Captain Mark Hughes is unlikely to return as he missed the defeat to Norwich having sustained an ankle injury against Brighton and he remains extremely doubtful for the trip to the Priestfield. At least we have a ready made replacement there, in the shape of Clayotn MacDonald.

That isn’t the case with his other two problems. Dwayne Mattis may well miss out after he picked up a calf problem against the Canaries. O’Keefe came on in that game, of course, but therein lies one of our problems, in that I think O’Keefe, Bradley and Mattis are too similar. It may be time to give a more defensively minded midfielder a chance, in the shape of Taundry, allowing his partner, be it O’Keefe or Bradley, to get forward more.

Steve Jones, meanwhile, is the other likely absentee, having suffered a setback in his recovery from a troublesome groin injury. The former Burnley man had returned to training after seven weeks on the sidelines but experienced unexpected pain on Monday. Till deputised on Tuesday, but I just don’t think we have anyone anywhere near the same class to bring in, which is one place we struggle.

As for the opposition, Danny Jackman could make his long-awaited return to Gillingham’s squad. The defender, who rejoined the Gills from Northampton in the summer, has been sidelined for four months after dislocating his shoulder at Southampton. But the 27-year-old is nearing full fitness and could come into the reckoning against the Saddlers.

Midfielder Curtis Weston is also in the frame to return after recovering from a hip injury and defender Josh Gowling is also set to feature after missing the 1-1 draw at Hartlepool in midweek with a groin injury.

Long-term absentee Simon King will definitely not feature due to ankle ligament damage, but the central defender hopes to get the green light to start jogging again next week.

Predictions?

Walsall go into the encounter desperate for points having picked up just one from their previous 15. It is our away record that is keeping us mid table, however. Only six teams have won away from home more than we have, while only four have won fewer at home. For those looking at their League position being an indicator of form, however, it has to be pointed out that Gillingham are not one of them. At home they’ve won 7, drawn 4 at lost just 2, a record that only the top seven in the Division and one other team (our next opponents away, Bristol Rovers) can match. That’s how tough this run of games is and why we must get something from this trip. Draw.

The Saddlers came up against the form team Norwich last night in a match re-arranged as last time the Canaries boss got the game called off due to player safety fears.

Luckily this time Lambert gave permission for the game to go-ahead but it ended in Walsall a defeat, albeit a narrow one – WFC Rob was there and offered these words on the message board:

We did alright I thought. The fact of the matter is, you get what you pay for in League One, and Hoolahan’s left foot was the difference. We don’t have a single player in our squad who could have picked out a ball like that for their winning goal.

Second goal aside, I thought we defended well as a unit. We pressed them as much as possible and made an effort to keep the ball on the floor as much as possible. I actually think Smith tends to play better against the better sides, and McDonald looks consistently solid.
I thought Richards had one of his best games in a Walsall shirt – it’s just a shame he can do no right with some people for whatever reason. No, he hasn’t got much pace and no, he’s not a winger so don’t expect him to tear down the wing, skinning full-backs for fun.

Our front two worked well together again. Byfield should have done better with his chance in the dying seconds however it just wasn’t to be.

Ultimately, we were undone through midfield once again. For a young midfielder with international honours to his name, I can’t believe how slow Bradley can be at times. He is second to almost every loose ball. I also find it strange that O’Keefe continually sits behind him in the pecking order despite Hutchings’ tendency to throw him on to do a particular job – last week it was to support the front two, this week it was to sit in front of the back four. To me, that shows that Hutchings sees O’Keefe as being technically better than Bradley but yet he still won’t play him from the start. Very odd.

So, here we are, sitting just 5 points clear of Oldham, in the last relegation place, and 4 clear of Brighton, Orient and Gillingham. We have two games in hand on the first three of those teams and three games in hand on the Kentish men (or are they men of Kent? Never could remember the difference). Seems to me that we need to win those games in hand. Trouble is, of course, that two of those games are third place Charlton at home and leaders Norwich at home. Think we could do with a win on Tuesday night when the East Angilans are the visitors.

Rumours are abounding on the message boards about the impending departure of players before the transfer window closes, but the only worries for certain are the fitness or otherwise dangerman Steve Jones.

Jones, of course, is not just our leading goalscorer, but is probably our main creative outlet as well, so his absence with a groin strain for a month could have proven to be disastrous, if not for the weather, which has ensured that he’s only missed three games. Those three, however, included a poor performance and a home draw against lowly Orient and that terrible home defeat to an admittedly improving Brighton.

Hutchigns will also have to make a decision regarding the full backs. Sansara is surely likely to miss out, given hid display against Brighton, but Westlake too looked a little shaky in that game and was only given and easier ride by the fact that most of Brighton’s attacks came down the other flank. Weston and Vincent should, therefore, return.

The likely line up, therefore, if Jones should make it (and given the Manager’s unwillingness/inability to experiment too much) is Hutchings’ normal 4 4 2 of:

Ince, Weston, Smith, Hughes, Vincent, Jones, Bradley, Mattis, Richards, Deeney Byfield.

There’s been no word from the Norwich camp of any injuries, following their narrow home win against Brentford yesterday. What we do know, however, is that striker Grant Holt (17 goals this season) got a straight red in that game. All that means, of course, is that they will depend more on Chris Martin, who got the winner for them in that game, who has a similar number!

Manager Paul Lambert also showed his tactical nous in that game, making chcanges after the sending off to a 3 4 2 formation and still winning the game.

Predictions?

Only Brighton, Oldham, Wycombe and Stockport have a worse record than our four home wins this season. That is, of course, three of the bottom four, plus Brighton, fifth from bottom. Meanwhile, only Leeds, with 8, can beat Norwich’s record of 6 away wins and only Charlton and the Franchise can equal it. This looks ominous, so that means we’ll probably get a much needed win!

Two new features launching today for UptheSaddlers visitors who use iphone, android or other smartphones.

First, a mobile version of this news page, available at the same link – upthesaddlers.com

Second, if you install an app called Tapatalk, you can view and post messages to the message board. Here is a screenshot:

Full details on the message board

A lot of effort was made to get the game on. And after a long break Walsall returned to action with a defeat. Wyrley Saddler was at the game and gave these reflections via the message board

We were awful from start to finish.
Better team won.
Cracking goal by Richards (by his standards anyway)
We should have had a penalty, clear foul on Byfield.
Hutchings in clueless
We need wingers
Hughes looked like he had put on about 2stone and was knackered after 5 minutes.
We’re going to slide down the table.