Grant Smith has said that he would appreciate a permanent move to the Saddlers, following his first goal for the club on Saturday, despite the fact that we are the 11th club in the 25 year old’s career!

His move from Swindon to Bristol City hasn’t worked out at all well, as the Manager who bought him, Brian Tinnion, was sacked and new man Gary Johnson didn’t seem to have Smith as part of his plans.

He told the Express and Star:- “I never really got a chance in the centre of midfield that I had hoped for”.

Smith left Wycombe for Reading in 1998 but five months later headed to Scotland, where he spent time with Hearts, Livingston and Clydebank.
He returned south of the border to join Sheffield United in 2001 and had loan spells at Halifax and Plymouth before signing for Swindon, where he impressed last season to earn a move to Bristol.

However, before we get too optimistic about the prospects of signing the player, he still has 18 months of his contract remaining at City, which means either them coming to some arrangement to terminate his contract, or a fee – and we all know what that tends to mean!

He also makes it plain that he hasn’t given up hopes of making it at Bristol, or, indeed, impressing scouts of other clubs while he is here.

It was another disappointing result on the road yesterday, although the improvement in performance was maintained.

The Saddlers always had the edge in the encounter, producing some scintillating attacking play, especially via Timm and James.

Timm opened the scoring, tapping in from close range for his first goal in senior British football, after some great work down the right from James.

Chesterfield equalised shortly afterwards, with a Wayne Allison header, from a left wing cross, something that was to trouble us all afternoon, as Pead, rather than the out of position Wright, struggled. Allison was completely unmarked, however, for a cross he had to stoop to (as the ITV pictures clearly showed). Despite comments on the message boards, there was nothing wrong with the goal, other than rank bad defending.

Smith opened his account for the club to put the Saddlers ahead again, taking a pass from the impressive Timm, before holding off a defender to slot home.

Chesterfield got their second equaliser late on, for their 10th draw in the last 11 games, when some more terrible defending from Walsall left a player in the box in oceans of space on the right, to cross for Kevan Hurst, also alone in acres of space, to score.

Despite carving out plenty of chances (and missing them), the Saddlers were also indebted to Murphy for a superb late double save.

Attacking wise, this was excellent, despite losing debutante Devlin to injury early on, but replacing him with Standing, rather than a striker may have been an error.

Defensively we looked good, but, in the end, we lost two points by means of letting in two very bad goals. On top of conceeding two equally bad goals against Colchester, even with the improvement up front, our fortunes will not improve while this is the case.

Can the Saddlers banish their away day blues in the League? Let’s home so, as it’s a trip to play-off chasing Chesterfield tomorrow and an afternoon at one of the last of the old fashioned scrap heap grounds!

The Walsall line up seems to be problematical for the game. Murphy should play what is due, at the moment, to be his last game for the club, unless Sunderland find a replacement for him. Ian Roper is missing for around another week or two, following his hamstring strain picked up on Tuesday, and should be replaced by Westwood, so impressive when he came on against Barnsley. Fox is suspended, however, so the club has recalled Scott Dann from his loan as cover in the middle and are trying to loan in a full back from Everton (probably young Matthew Holt). If we do, one of the other loanees (probably Murphy) will have to step down, as we are only allowed 5 in the 16.

In midfield, Osborn also has a hamstring strain and will be replaced by either Smith or Standing and Merson also has to try and fit in Devlin, who said yesterday that he’s come for first team football. Demontagnac or Wright seem to be the most likely to suffer there.

Up front, Merson has Constable available again, but the James and Timm option would seem more likely away from home, but you never know! There is still no sign of a striker being signed, so that shouldn’t complicate matters.

As for Chesterfield, Roy MacFarland is hoping to resign loanee Kevan Hurst from Sheffield United in time for the game and they have also recently bought in Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara on loan. Both were needed as they lost out on the possible services of former Wolves loanee Sammy Clingan, who is being chased by Forest.

Their major injury problems will be the absence of two experienced defenders in Reuben Hazell (so keen to join the Saddlers in the summer that he issued a “come and get me” plea in the press) and Steve Blatherwick.

Their dangerman is, without a doubt, former Saddler Paul Hall. The winger/striker is their top scorer since his summer move from Tranmere and is likely to give whoever plays at left back for us a difficult time, especially considering that the player concerned will not have played there before for us!

The other man to watch has to be Wayne Allison. In the home game, his introduction to the game when the Spirites were 2 – 0 down, completely changed the match. He held the ball up well and gave the centre backs a torrid time, culminating in him easily outjumping Gerrard to get the winner.

Predictions? Roy MacFarland’s team, by his own admission, are punching above their weight this season, following their struggles in the previous two. They are currently 6th, with 43 points, but that is courtesy of having the fourth best away record in the league. At home, they are only 13th, with 4 draws and 3 defeats. The most amazing thing about their record, however, is that they have drawn 9 of the last 10 games!

There ought to be grounds for optimism with Chesterfield’s average home record, but, despite the improvement on Tuesday, I have to look at our appalling away record and the current form table of 4 points out of the last fifteen available and say a home win. If the improvement continues, however, we might just see the Spirites 10th draw in 11 games.

As a day out Chesterfield away has ebbed and flowed over the years. From the innocent seventies when Charles Bronson look-alikes would entrap Double Diamond froth on their moustaches whilst comparing Ernie Moss to Alan Buckley, through the desperately dark Eighties when the town’s police used match-days to justify all the fancy new gear they got during the miners’ strike, to the pleasant almost Zen-like Nineties when away fans were allocated their own bar in the Chesterfield Arms, a place also used to serve the players tea and sarnies after the game.

Sadly, and in no small part due to the antics of our own pre-pubescent lunatic fringe last year’s trip saw a return to 80’s style policing whereby Saddlers alighting at the station were asked for a valid passport, mug-shot and DNA sample before being allowed to go in search of an illusive pint.

The station area boasts a couple of outlets namely the eminently avoidable Aruba Café, and the cavernous County Hotel where secret handshakes, passwords and false beards were required to get a drink last season, although I did manage a half of lager in a plastic beaker on the way home. Needless to say I was the only person in the bar. The staff must have thought I was in danger of self-harm following the team’s display.

Heading away from the station you might logically go down Saltergate as this is where the ground is situated – don’t however. There you will find Local Heroes (strippers) and a couple of other very home orientated bars although the Blue-Bell is ok at the station end.

Head instead up Newbold Road (off to the right) until you come to the aforementioned Chesterfield Arms on the corner of Queen St. This is the best traditional pre-match pub used by both home and away fans, and apart from last year’s heavy handedness has been very away friendly for many a year. Last year the police closed it at 2pm and escorted its contents up to the away turnstiles, including two poor local codgers who were playing dominoes and watching Channel Four racing.

Next door to the Chesterfield is another pub called The Industry which is smaller but equally friendly (pre-last year).Both bars are very reasonably priced and a mere 4 minute walk to the away end in Cross St.

Last year’s regression into the Eighties ended here as upon entering the “stadium” you are transported back to the Sixties. “Beer served in the ground” I hear you ask? Pahh welcome to a partly condemned open terrace with alfresco latrines, or if you need a roof you can pay £18 to sit on an upturned orange box in the main stand.

Word of caution, there were several arrests that were followed through with convictions and bans last season for the heinous crime of singing in the painfully slow queue, so please control your excitement at the prospect of another Saddlers away performance. The reason given was that it disturbed the local residents. Thankfully for them and us, Saltergate is due to be levelled this year and replaced by a football ground …elsewhere in the town.

A pleasing performance and a good win at Bescot last night, even if the first forty five minutes looked like providing a repeat of Saturday!

Merson made the changes he had to last night, with Smith and Devlin having been signed too late to play in this one and Constable cup tied. In came Osborn and Demontagnac, with James moving up front.

The first half followed a similar pattern to the Colchester game, in that Walsall always looked as if they could create chances, but really didn’t look convincing in taking them again. There were some improvements, in that James looked much better at leading the line than Constable and both wingers were providing much better cover to the full backs, so we looked far more compact, but the play was too often disjointed.

Timm, for me, was again being far too intricate and the “second striker” role just doesn’t seem to suit his talents – but more of him later.

Chances were coming and going before half time, with Leary going close with one pile driver from 20 yards, but it was James’ pace that was giving the Barnsley defence the most problems, especially on the break on the odd occasion when the home defence had been put under pressure. Having said that, he really should have scored from a one on one and Mark Wright and Leary both dallied far too long with shooting opportunities which were blocked. Wright also had another chance to shoot, which resulted in a weak shot and a regulation save for Colgan.

Merson made two changes at half time, bringing on Westwood for Roper and Standing for Osborn. Both were to work.

Westwood, despite some booing when his name was announced from elements in the upper and lower Floors 2 Go was, in the second half, quite magnificent. Whether Roper was carrying a knock or not, he has been given a testing time by the Barnsley forwards, although, to be fair, he had coped extremely well. Westwood just didn’t miss a header or a tackle.

The second sub also worked. Barnsley were just not presenting a threat from central midfield, as most of their creativity was coming from the wide positions, which were being covered by the wingers. Standing’s ability to run at defenders was, therefore, likely to be a better option, and so it proved, as he too had a very good second half.

The biggest difference, however, was Timm. As on Saturday, he started to drop much deeper, into the attacking midfielder slot, leaving James on his own up front and the wingers pushed further forward almost in a Chelski type 4 3 3. In that position, Timm was, quite simply, magnificent. He completely dominated possession and we looked dangerous every time he had the ball. Wright and Demontagnac also became a lot more involved.

Standing had a shot blocked, Wright dragged a shot wide, when he was undecided whether to cross or shoot and Demontagnac broke into the area without looking convincing about scoring, then Wright had a long range effort go wide, when the cross may have been a better option. Barnsley then threatened briefly, before the Saddlers deservedly took the lead on 67 minutes, when another long clearance found James, whose pace caused problems, before Timm produced the pass of the night to put Leary in, who rounded the ‘keeper and scored from a narrow angle.

Ritchie then went 3 at the back, chasing the game, which proved a mistake, as, finally, Demontagnac got clear following another great headed clearance from Westwood, his cross was too long, but Wright was completely unmarked on the other wing, his full back having gone off, and crossed perfectly for James to nod home.

Barnsley huffed and puffed for the remainder of the game, but the saddlers were, by then, in cruise control.

The only downs from the night were the terrible crowd of 4,078 and the fact that Joke City won on penalties, so it’s a trip there, plus we must remember that Barnsley had won only 1 in the last 7 and looked as if they had no confidence at all.

The other worry for me is that we still need a “big” striker, so we can change things when needed. If we get one, I just can’t see where Devlin is going to play.

The Express and Star is saying that Walsall have lost out in the race to sign Merson’s number one striker target.

It was fairly common knowledge that Lee Peacock wanted a move to be closer to his wife’s home on the South Coast, which gave us a slight advantage over the only other known competitors for his signature, Chesterfield.

Unfortunately, the Express and Star are saying that he considered Swindon Town to be even more convenient and will be signing for them.

This will be a blow for Merson, despite the aquisition of Paul Devlin, as he does need a big striker to compliment his squad and he also made the startling admission to the paper that he has no “Plan B”.

Meanwhile, another possible player who could fit the bill, Plymouth’s Scott Taylor, has signed for Franchise. Perhaps McCleod is on his way.

One of the world’s worst kept secrets was finally confirmed this morning with the announcement of the signing of former Blue Nose, Paul Devlin, but only until the end of this season. It appears that Devlin wants to keep his options open in the summer, having said last week that he felt he could still do a job in the Championship.

Devlin, now 33, has been plying his trade in recent years with Watford, but the former Scottish International winger (10 caps) has had a quite varied career.

He started out at Stafford Rangers before he was bought by Notts County for £40,000 in February 1992. From there, he moved to Birmingham City for a quarter of a million in 1996 and scored a creditable 34 times in 89 appearances, playing as an emergency striker.

He eventually went to Sheffield United, for whom he made around 150 appearances, but also had loan spells at Notts County and Birmingham before eventually moving back to St. Andrews in 2002.

He joined Watford in September 2003 and has played in 76 League games for The Hornets, scoring just 6 goals and has made 23 appearances this season, scoring twice.

He has a career total 579 games and 104 goals, but has been mostly used as a winger and certainly isn’t the big target man. We still await news of Lee Peacock.

Back to the all important FA Cup run tonight and the Barnsley replay. With it becoming obvious that Merson is not going to receive any of the proceeds from the sale of Bennett and Fryatt, it is, as he said, the cash earned from this run which is financing his team changes. Loan signings are all well and good, but we need to be building as well.

Having said all of that, changes have to be made from Saturday. Out will go Murphy, as Sunderland are still not willing to let him get cup tied, Smith, who wasn’t signed in time for the first game and, therefore, can’t play in the replay and the cup tied Constable. The line up, therefore, with only Merson and Wrack injured, should look something like:

Oakes, Pead, Gerrard, Roper, Fox, Wright, Osborn, Leary, Demontagnac or James, Timm, Atieno or James.

Barnsley manager Andy Ritchie summed up their position on the Tyke’s official site:-

“We will obviously have Paul Reid (defender) back after suspension but Paul Heckingbottom (Sheffield Wednesday loan defender) is cup tied. Dale Tonge (midfield) will go for an exploratory operation later this afternoon to get to the bottom of his knee injury and Nicky Wroe (midfield) has trained but is still struggling with swelling around his knee and could need another scan.
Bobby Hassell (defender) has missed training this morning but is fit to play at Walsall. Antony Kay (midfield) is on the mend and should be ok for the weekend.
I will have to make my mind up about whether to start Daniel Nardiello at Walsall and that is something I will think about tonight. Paul Hayes will start up front”.

Predictions? Barnsley have been on a poor run of form lately and have won only 1 in 7 games, which puts a different slant on what was still a good draw at their place. (Mind you, we’ve only won one of the last six!). As was proved in the League game on Saturday, all of Walsall’s troubles at the moment stem from their inability to score goals, but, if they can find a scorer or two from somewhere tonight, then this should be a relatively comfortable win, leaving a short trip to either Tamworth or Joke City in the next round.

The Express and Star have confirmed the story we were carrying last Thursday, that one of Merson’s striker targets is, indeed Lee Peacock.

The Sheffield Wednesday player has been out of favour with new manager Paul Sturrock, with only three goals in all competitions this season so far and has been told he is not part of the club’s plans. This is in contrast with the most succesful times in his career, such as his spell at Bristol City, when he scored 54 goals in 144 League games.

The player, who certainly fills the bill of the big target man Merson says he’s after, has been offered an eighteen month contract by the Saddlers, although he has other offers to consider as well.

Murphy Returns To Sunderland

Meanwhile, Joe Murphy will return to Sunderland after Saturday’s game, as his loan period will be at an end. Merson would like to sign the keeper, but there is still no sign of the Black Cats signing a replacement.

Those people who were saying before we sold him that Matt Fryatt was over rated must be eating their words this morning, as we could have still been playing now and not have scored, despite the chances made. However, that wasn’t the whole story.

Merson, unsurprisingly, decided to give home debuts to all of his January signings, but it probably turned out to be at least one change too many, in the interests of consistancy. The Saddlers lined up Murphy, Pead, Gerrard, Roper, Fox, Wright, Leary, Smith, James, Timm and Constable, with Oakes, Westwood, Osborn, Atieno and Standing on the bench.

Walsall started off reasonably brightly, but the half soon became somewhat disjointed, as the two midfields battled for domination. James was looking particularly lively, but kept having to come inside onto his right foot, which negated some of his threat. Constable, having proved he could take chances against Blackpool, now was proving he cannot lead the line, though, as any early balls were just coming straight back at the midfield. Leary got a warning from the ref early on and was not “getting his foot in”, so, to me, he and Smith looked too similar and there was little creativity coming from the central midfield pair. Timm? Always tried too much and was almost completely ineffective, although he had one very good first half shot deflected wide..

Clear cut chances were difficult to come by in the first 45, but Constable managed to miss a header completely from a Wright cross, when he should have done far, far better and James had a header well saved. The best chance of the half, however, came when Pead lost his man on the far post at a set piece, Murphy made a tremendous parry and Colchester’s “star” man, Danns, contrived to miss an open goal.

All in all, however, Walsall could have counted themselves a little unlucky to go in only level.

Colchester strated the second half brightly and Iwelumo had the ball in the net, only for it to be ruled out for a push. The Saddlers started then to get a measure of control, however, as Timm, obviously frustrated at his lack of possession, started to drop much deeper and was getting better quality ball. As he did so, however, the supply to James, especially, dried up and he was a spectator for much of the next period of the game. Timm’s greater effectiveness, however, was about to result in Merson making the first of two decisions that were to change the game.

In an attempt to change things around, Merson decided to take off Constable, who had been looking out of his depth, trying to lead the line, and replaced him with Atieno. This wasn’t a bad move in itself, but backed him into a corner, as would be seen later.

Anthnoy Gerrard then decided to show his midfielders how it was done, as he went on a tremendous run worthy of his cousin, got a superb return ball from Timm, but, unfortunately, finshed like his centre back partner, as he put the chance wide.

Merson then made his second substitution, one which was really to have an influence on the game. He decided to take Timm off, despite his growing influence, and, as he had no other strikers on the bench, brought on Standing, when, of course, what we really needed was to be able to play two “up top”.

Almost before we had time to assimilate the formation and who was going to play where, Colchester got another corner, played the near post header yet again, everyone missed it and Danns was there to side foot the ball home.

Walsall’s response was immediate, as they threw players forward. Smith got burst into the box and put a ferocious shot narrowly wide, getting a deflection in the process. The one advantage of Timm going off was also that the wingers were getting more possession again and twice in a minute, James got free to put the ball across the six yard area, without a single Walsall player being in it!

Eventually, our profilgacy was punished when another near post corner was headed on by Halford and Iwelumo was on hand to nod the ball home from close range.

All in all, this was a deeply frustrating game, in that chances were made and not taken. However, that isn’t the whole story. Colchester has far too much possession in the final third and were kept at bay only by the magnificent performance of the two centre backs, yet again. Whether it was because of Leary being warned by the ref early on or not, the centre backs were not getting enough cover from midfield and, certainly, the full backs were not getting anything like enough protection from their wingers. That meant that Roper and Gerrard were always under immense pressure and the slightest lapse of concentration would be punished.

A new striker (and preferably two) is the over-riding priority, however, and cover for left wing would be a help, as I’d love to see James playing down his stronger side. The other results below us in the table were particularly unfortunate yesterday and we are now 16th and just 6 points above the bottom four and nine behind the last play off place. Unless we start looking like taking our chances, this season could yet go pear shaped again.

As Albert says on Rivals, let’s also give some credit to the Us for a “Graydonesque” performance. After all, neither of their goals were anything special, they are just the “kind organised teams score” and, I hasten to add, we don’t.