I wrote after the game on Saturday that Saturday 15 October 2005

“This was a game no one expected anything from, with a trip to the team lying in second place in the table, but this defeat just puts more and more pressure on the side. Walsall now have a mere 17 points from 14 games and that is relegation form. In fact, if you take the first two games out of the equation, the Saddlers have taken only 11 points from the last 36. Like it or not, the run of bad form is becoming a dangerous slide and a home win next week is imperative. Whether that’s possible, when Swindon’s goalless draw means we now have the worst defensive record in the Division and only ex Saddler Karl Hawley’s goal against Mansfield prevented us from going bottom of the entire heap, defensively, remains to be seen”.

Since then, events seemed to have moved on even further, with protests being organised on the message boards and the local press inundated with letters calling for the manager to go.

Saturday’s game is looking more and more like a “must win” for the Saddlers’ under pressure management team, if only to try and win back that proportion of the fans that they are rapidly losing.