Growing up as a young boy watching the Saddlers I mistakenly believed for a good couple of years that a “Spireite” was some kind of mythical being, possessing of magical powers for use against its enemies. An ideal nickname for a football club I naively thought.

Then when I got a bit older and went to Chesterfield away, I realised that they were in fact named after a laughable piece of errant construction, the bent church in the town that is, not the football ground itself.

Since those not so halcyon days in the 70’s Walsall versus Chesterfield has for me been a benchmark of the mutual mediocrity that has often gripped our respective clubs.

Apart from a twice replayed FA cup tie en-route to Old Trafford, a glorious Mark Rees inspired 4-3 win in front of the “Star Soccer” cameras, and our promotion tussle of 1995 there hasn’t been much to capture the imagination.

Last year’s trip to Saltergate was the day our relegation really sunk in. The return fixture saw arguably the worst display by a visiting team at Bescot last season.

This year sees the sides predictably straddling mid-table. The Saddlers will be hoping that the promise of Husband’s debut at Yeovil, and continued good form of Fryatt will blossom into a full blown assault on the top six. Certainly this is the type of game we must win if that aim is to be realised.

It’s too early to speculate as to whether Merse will further shuffle the pack but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Husbands start on the wing, while the centre of midfield is perm any 2 from 6 depending on how the diets are going. Roper is some way off his target weight according to Merse, so the back four should be unchanged despite last week’s defeat.

Chesterfield have former Saddler Paul Hall in the ranks, and he was instrumental in their 3-0 win over Bournemouth last week, a match in which former Wolves reserves Colin Larkin and Sammy Clingan also featured, the former opening his goal-scoring account.

They lined up 4-4-2 there, but had employed Caleb Folan as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 in the previous two away fixtures. If It’s 4-4-2 then we could get another sighting of Wayne Allison as he plods towards 700 professional appearances in a career stretching over 18 years, although last season the only thing stretching was the elastic in his shorts.

Keeper Carl Muggleton is another incredible character, his CV includes 3 spells with Chesterfield, one of sixteen clubs he has represented.

Mark Debolla played alongside Husbands in the Villa youth set-up, and can be a dangerous customer coming off the bench.

Prediction, a scrappy 2-1 win, oh what the hell it’s my last preview before Neil gets back, make it 3-1.

(Admin adds - many thanks to Geordie Saddler for stepping in as Editor whilst Neil has been on holiday - with some top quality items)