I suppose this is a case of drinking at the Last Chance Saloon as an old enemy turn up at Bescot tomorrow, in the shape of Port Vale. The terrible run of home defeats have left us standing on the trapdoor with the hinges creaking and we certainly don’t want a home defeat at the hands of our dear Staffordshire rivals to send us down. Oh dear, no.

Gerrard is set to miss out once more with knee ligament damage. The former Everton man will receive a late fitness test, but is not expected to figure and there are also question marks over Grant Smith, recovering from his groin problem, and Kevin James, whose hamstrings are proving to be as fragile as the Forest fans warned us they would be when we took him on loan.

On top of that, we lost Paul Devlin this week to a bad bout of Dummy Spittingoutitis and Scott (who?) Fitzgerald was sent back to Brentford, to, presumably, work on his novel writing, as it looks like he’ll never make a footballer. On top of that, Wrack and Nicholls are, of course, still missing.

To balance up some of that, re-inforcements have arrived, in the shape of Daryl Taylor, back from his loan spell at Hereford, and he might get a spot in the 16, as should Ishmel Demontagnac, hopefully now raring to go.

Formation is the key and we will have to see if we end up 3 5 2, or 4 4 2, as that is key to the participation of some players, such as Mads Timm (unlikely to figure in a 4 4 2) and Ishmel (unlikely to figure in a 3 5 2).

As for Vale, as we pointed out earlier this week, they do have problems up front. Youth team striker Louis Briscoe is set for a call-up for the game and looks like being considered ahead of Trinidad and Tobago International Hector Sam, who hasn’t played for the first team since breaking his ankle in August, but needs to break through to have a chance of making his country’s World Cup squad.
Former Saddler Michael Husbands is out for the rest of the season after a hernia operation and hopes are fading that Nathan Lowndes will be fit following a twisted ankle. Lee Matthews is also out of the reckoning after picking up a hamstring injury in Monday’s reserve match.

Vale go into the game in 11th place in the table, clear of any real danger of relegation and highly unlikely to make it into the play-offs, so this is a little “end of season” for them, hopefully.

They are, though, 10th in the away form table, so their record outside of the Potteries is somewhat better than that at the “Wembley of the North”, which is a worry.

They have also won their last two games - at home to the Franchise, which is no big deal, but the second was to Swansea City. They were, however, winless in March, drawing twice and losing twice.

Well, on Tuesday, I predicted a home defeat, in the certain expectation that we would promptly win and we didn’t (thanks to the blind officials), so I’ll revert to a proper assessment. I think we’re going to win this one. What’s more, if we can get an early goal, I think the confidence may start coming back and we could then win easily. I’ll probably be wrong.

Kevan Broadhurst has given a frank interview with the PFA site, gimmefootball.com. about this week, the reaction of the players and where we go from here:-

Q WHAT DO YOU NEED TO ACHIEVE FROM YOUR LAST FIVE GAMES TO AVOID THE DROP?

A We have now got to win three out of the last five games – pure and simple. That gives us a chance and we have to start on Saturday. It is possible and if we perform like we did against Bournemouth it is certainly ‘do-able’. If we can play like that against Port Vale then I will be confident but if we go back to the way we were last week and the week before then you have obviously got concerns. But they know have to live up to that and go and do it again. We have talked about it and they played with a lot more freedom against Bournemouth.

Q WHY DO YOU THINK THE PERFORMANCE LEVELS IMPROVED IN MIDWEEK?

A Sometimes the pressure comes off. We spoke about this before the game and told them that as far as most people are concerned you are down anyway so why worry about it? Just get out there and play. I think they responded ever so well. Sometimes you can go the other way and while players think you are still there they can get uptight. We went the other way with them and they responded magnificently and they know what the target is now. I think we have got three wins in us but we need a little bit of luck along the way, which I don’t think we had in the second half of Tuesday’s game as Chris Westwood’s header was over the line but not given.

Q SUPPORTERS VOICED THEIR DISCONTENT DURING TUESDAY’S DEFEAT WHEN YOU SUBSTITUTED STEVE CLARIDGE DIDN’T THEY?

A I can feel their disappointment and obviously the substitution riled them up. You have to make decisions based on what you need to achieve. I could stick five people up front but if there is no-one in midfield to service them then you will get overrun. I just felt the way we were going it would have upset the balance a little bit. There was still space to play in. If we had changed it in a different way they would have closed the space down more. I was generally pleased and if Ishmel Demontagnac comes on and scores a goal then everyone is happy.

Q YOU ARE ONE MAN LIGHT FOR THIS WEEKEND’S FIXTURE AGAINST PORT VALE ARENT YOU?

Paul Devlin came to me after the game and said he wanted to leave. He wasn’t happy at being on the bench and I can understand that. He has been a terrific servant to the game and I can understand his frustration. He has decided that he has had such a great career that he didnt want to go out not playing games. I didn’t want him to go. I still think he had a part to play and I felt he needed a bit of a breather. It is his decision and I respect that. He felt it was the right decision for him and he has gone with our best wishes.

Q HOW BIG IS THE JOB OF TURNING ROUND WALSALL FOOTBALL CLUB?

A It is a major task. It is only when you get inside a place that you see actually what has gone on. On the surface it didn’t look too bad but when you get into the nitty gritty, there is a lot of hard work. There will be a big change whoever is in charge next season and I have given the board my blueprint for going forward. Whether they use that under me or someone else is up to them, but it does need a major overhaul in all departments.