After recent visits to reasonably tidy and improved grounds it’s off to Barnet for a dose of 60’s non-league nostalgia. Thankfully for us the horrors of Underhill are to be experienced on a late summer afternoon and not a freezing Tuesday night in January.

Apparently the social club no longer admits away fans, but in-case this has changed it can be found on the south face of the slope upon which the ground was constructed.

Happily, ground apart Barnet is one of the more friendly away trips that we will encounter this season and several of the pubs around the ground are worth a look.

Ordinarily anyone travelling by train would be better advised getting another service train to New Barnet station from Kings Cross, which is one tube stop or a short walk from Euston (left then follow the main Road) rather than slog it out on the tube. London-based Saddler Tim Wilkes informs that there is a replacement bus on the tube this weekend, so this advice is even more pertinent.

Another advantage of getting the train is that once at New Barnet station there are several pubs en-route to the ground. Wetherspoons is directly opposite the station (if you like that sort of thing), and just a little further down East Barnet Road there is the excellent Railway Tavern which does proper food, has real ale (Charles Wells), and a large screen. A much better bet than ‘Spoons in my book. It’s only about 10-15 minutes walk to the ground from here.

At the ground the obvious choice is the “no frills” Old Red Lion which is situated down an ally on Underhill on the opposite side of the ground to the social club. This is also the nearest pub to the tube station on Barnet Hill so it’s logical not to bother walking into the town centre which is in the opposite direction. Very much geared up for match-days due its proximity to the ground, this pub is operated by Hertfordshire’s independent brewers McMullen’s who brought the world Country Best Bitter, bless them!

If anyone finds themselves further down Barnet Hill in the vicinity of Great North Road, then try The Weavers bar which is quite atmospheric having been converted from an old shop. It boasts hand-pulled beer and is a bit quieter if you have the family in tow.

Personally I’m not a big fan of The Queens (also at the bottom of Barnet Hill), or The Avenue on The High St in the town centre. However, should anyone venture into the town most other bars are ok, recommendations being The After Office Hours (especially for food), and The Mitre, both of which are also on The High Street.

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Richard Money has done yet another revealing interview for the Evening Mail. He started by praising goalkeeper Clayton Ince and the start vhe has made to his Bescot career:-

“I think he’s just a big guy that wants to be loved a little bit. He’s found an environment that he’s enjoying.”

There have been several doubts among Walsall fans about the Trinidad and Tobago International, but Money revealed this week that, before offering him a contract, he did plenty of asking around and the messages he got back reaffirmed his own view from seeing Ince on trial at Bescot: “Sign him up.”

“I think there were one or two eyebrows raised when he was our choice as goalkeeper,” he told the Mail, “But I spoke to an awful lot of people who have worked with Clayton and the same message kept coming back. Terrific goal-keeper, great shot-stopper and terrific at coming for crosses. People have questioned his kicking but I’ve seen nothing wrong with that at all so far.”

It’s what Money goes on to say next which is even more revealing about his style, however.

“One thing I learned when I went abroad – and it’s got nothing to do with the level you’re able to work at – is the different attitude there to treating players. A lot of English coaches seem to think you can treat everyone the same but I don’t believe in that. I think you have to treat the individual. You give everyone the same opportunity but you don’t treat them the same.

What I’m saying is that I’ve learned that people’s mentalities are different. Different things make different people tick and you’ve got to find out what it is that makes that particular person tick. I think with Clayton he just likes an environment he is comfortable in. We have tried to give him that and he has performed at his best.”

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The big surprise in tonight’s reserve game against Birmingham was another striker on trial.

The former Leeds United man, Clive Wijnhard, is the player.

Wijnhard has been struggling to make a mark in recent seasons, but has shown some good touches in the first half, scoring the Saddler’s goal, as they lead 1 – 0.

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84 years since Darlington won at Walsall according to GeordieSaddler – and today the Saddlers continued their impressive start to life under Dickie Dosh with a 5th clean sheet in 6 games following a 1-0 win over big spending Darlington.

WFC Rob was at the game and gave these reflections on the message board:

I thought we looked very average today but restricted one of the so-called stronger sides in the league to very few chances.

Westwood’s distribution today was clearly awful however I did think he defended well at times, especially at set pieces. Today made it clear to see why he is in the side – he is strong at both defending and attacking set-pieces. Whether that is enough to warrant a place in the team is up for debate, but he did make a couple of superb defensive headers today.
Roper and Gerrard were both very solid and personally, I thought one of them should have got man o the match. Having said that, Martin Butler did reasonably well feeding off scraps today. We simply didn’t get the ball into his feet enough.

Whilst Wright doesn’t show enough grit and determination for me defensively, I thought his attacking play was some of the best he’s produced. He put in a couple of superb crosses today which we were unlucky not to score from. The way he ambles towards an opposition player with no conviction whatsoever and no will to win the ball is very frustrating, but if he does what he’s good at as much as he did today, we can manage.

Don’t understand the hero worshipping of Keates. He runs around, runs around a bit more, boots the ball forward and runs a bit more. He often looks like he’s busy and I can’t criticise his effort, but I don’t really think he adds anything to the side apart from some fresh legs coming off the bench. Pead is similar, but he does run with the ball and look a bit more threatening going forward.

Fangueiro wasn’t a impressive today, but he shows flashes of threatening play and can hold onto the ball well.

I thought Taylor should have started the game today. When he came on, he played a couple of very decent balls through to the forwards and we were at last playing the ball in Darlington’s half. For some bizarre reason, he then started playing a lot deeper and we looked like we were plaing with 2 left backs.

In case anyone was wondering where Dobson was today (the OS said he was able to play), saw him outside the ground after the game and he said he’ll definitely be back next week. The gash on his forehead really is huge and it doesn’t look like all the swelling has gone down yet. We really missed him today in my opinion.

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It’s almost like the old times, isn’t it? A home game to welcome back a bunch of Cup giant killing heroes? A chance to get a win over possible promotion rivals and make a statement about our intentions for this Division this season? Such things haven’t been known at Bescot Stadium for many a long year, but they’re back now. Let’s hope the momentum continues with the arrival of Darlington

On the injury front, Richard Money will be welcoming back Martin Butler, rested on Tuesday with a slight back problem, Mark Kinsella, who had picked up a groin problem at Lincoln and, equally welcome as the return of our number one striker, skipper Michael Dobson, who as recovered from the head injury he received the other week.

Darren Wrack seems to be improving rapidly and may be able to return at the end of September, while young striker Alex Nicholls has made remarkable progress and will be back from his broken leg even sooner.

The other two walking wounded, Tony Bedeau and Allan Picken, have been pencilled in for the reserves next Tuesday, with a possible return next Saturday.

The sixteen, therefore, should come from Ince, Gilmartin, Pead, Westwood, Gerrard, Roper, Taylor, Fangueiro, Wright, Dobson, Kinsella, Keates, Fox, Butler, Sam, Constable and Demontagnac. Whoever misses out can count themselves unfortunate, as the competition for places grows.

There were massive upheavals at Darlington in the summer, as manager Dave Hodgson was given a lot (for this level) of cash to spend, making them one of the pre season favourites.
The signings of ex-Norwich striker Gaetano Giallanza, the dangerous Barry Conlon from Barnsley and midfielder Michael Cummins from Port Vale looked amongst the best pieces of business in the division. Since then, they have also added, of course, Julian Joachim, for the unheard of fee of £100,000 rising to £200,000. That’s a lot of money at this level
Ins: Gaetano Giallanza (unattached), Patrick Collins (Sheffield Wednesday), Martin Smith (Northampton), Michael Cummins (Port Vale), Barry Conlon (Barnsley)
Outs: David McGurk (York), Matt Clarke (Bradford), Ryan Valentine (Wrexham), Akpo Sodje (Port Vale), Joe Kendrick, Matty Appleby, Adrian Webster, Guy Bates, Jonjo Dickman (all released)
The danger men are, of course, the aforementioned Giallanza, the ever dangerous and familiar Bary Conlan and ex saddler Julian Joachim.

Predictions?

Darlington are fresh from their own giant killing n the week, of course, when, despite resting first choice goalkeeper Russell, promising defender Hutchinson and both Giallanza and Conlon, they went to Stoke and dumped them out of the competition, 2 – 1, with Joachim opening his account for them. What made it all the more remarkable was that they had been playing with 10 men since the 12th minute.

Looks a formidable proposition, then? Well, not quite.

They are lying 11th at the moment, having won two and lost two. They won 4 – 0 at Macclesfield on the opening day, but went down 4 – 1 at Boston last week. It seems that their start has been a little inconsistent so far. On that basis, and despite their potent attacking threat, I’ll go for a narrow home win.

Believe!

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Manager Richard Money has said that he still wants to increase his striking options before the transfer window closes next week, despite the club’s excellent start to the season.

Working on the basis of improving from a position of strength seems to be his motto and he told the Official Site:-

“We have healthy competition throughout the squad, but I would like to bring in another striker if we can find one.

We are expecting to have Alex Nicholls back in action around the middle of September, so maybe he could be that man.

There have also been one or two enquiries from clubs wanting to take some of our youngsters out on loan, but at the moment I feel that it is important to keep the whole group together so I can find out what they can and can’t do.

I will not be letting anyone go out on loan until we have played at least four reserve games and similarly I don’t intend to bring anyone in on loan at this stage.”

He also said that he was particularly pleased that our goals so far this season were being shared around and that we were not dependant on just one or two players finding the net.

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You know when the nightmare of the last two years is well and truly over when you get results like this.

It wasn’t just getting a win against a team two Divisions higher that was so pleasing, it was the manner of achieving it. We went to Home Park last night with a well worked out game plan, stuck to it exactly and reaped the rewards accordingly.

Richard Money had made changes again, as we lined up Ince, Pead, Roper, Westwood, Fox, Taylor, Gerrard, Keates, Fangueiro Constable , Sam.

Subs: Gilmartin, McDermott, Dann, Demontagnac, Wright.

The appearance of James Constable was a complete shock, as the club had been saying that he wouldn’t be fit, but it was fortunate, as Butler was suffering from a slight back problem and DD did’nt wat to risk him ahead of an important league game on Saturday.

Yet again, however, the defence was solid, keeping the fourth clean sheet of the season, although Nick Chadwick did contrive to miss a couple of good chances for the home side. At the other end, however, Dean Keates should have scored one and could have got another.

The goal eventually came when Mark Wright, on as sub, cut the ball back to Scott Dann and the young centre back slotting the ball home superbly with his first touch after coming on up front.

The only down side on the night was the fact that the win got a little lost amongst a host of other Championship teams falling to Division 2 outfits, including the publicity grabbing Sunderland losing at lowly Bury and Crystal Palace, also media darlings, crashing at home to Notts County.

The upside was Merson, commenting on the game for Sky Sports News, looking completely bewildered as to how a team he took to the depths could be playing so well.

Ian Holloway came out with his usual mixture of contradictory nonsense after the game:-

“We just didn’t score. We needed to make more of our possession, but that was a very, very good performance”.

“If it was a boxing match it would have been stopped in the second half. We just didn’t create enough and our final ball into the box wasn’t quite there”.

“They have had one shot on goal all game and scored with it, and sometimes at the moment we are not getting what we deserve.”

Dicky Dosh, on the other hand, was modest about the substitutions and, obviously, pleased at a plan coming together:

“Sometimes you take the gamble and it comes off and it is very nice and very pleasing when that happens,” Money said.

“It was a good finish as well. He (Dann) is normally a centre-half but we were a little bit stretched up front tonight”.

“Tony Bedeau has been injured for a while and Martin Butler had a slight problem in his back yesterday, and with a very important league game at the weekend we thought it wasn’t right to risk him. It was pretty much all hands on deck up front.”

He added: “I thought we played with a tremendous shape tonight and we were very difficult to break down.”

Attendance: 6,407. (228 away).

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Well, somewhat belatedly and puffing and blowing following a run down the length of the country, Geordie’s pub guide has just arrived. Enjoy the night out!

Well it’s a fair few years since I’ve been to Plymouth!! But as I recall it is an unusual ground set on the outskirts of the city in the area next to Central Park, which walking from the station up Alma Road takes you past a Wetherspoons, namely the Pennycomequick Hotel which is adjacent to the railway line.

Then if you walk up to the top of Alma Road there is another Wetherspoons called The Britannia which is no more than five minutes walk from the ground cutting across the Park.

If parking on the other side of Central Park there is the Central Park Towers which is in the heart of the student district. I used to go for a drink in the student union bar of the University but I would imagine this will be closed at this time of year.

Beer is also reportedly served in the stadium.

Anyone looking to make an afternoon of it heading down to The Barbican to take in the sea air will find a more plentiful and varied supply of pubs near the sea-front although many of them are a bit touristy. Those in search of a more traditional atmosphere should head for The Minerva set between the Barbican and the tacky shopping centre, supposedly and old haunt of Francis Drake, and at 500 years old the oldest pub in the city.

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It’s everybody off to the seaside tomorrow night as Saddlers fans, following their away trip to Lincoln on Saturday, now need to travel down the cul de sac that is Devon and Cornwall for their game at Plymouth in the League/Milk/Carling/Whoever it is sponsoring it now Cup. Just the ticket for a weekday night, the 205 mile trek to the town Hitler tried to flatten. Still, never mind.

What we don’t know, of course, is what Richard Money’s attitude is going to be to this competition. I don’t think we are likely to get the farce we had two years ago under Forrest Gump, when he decided to make 11 changes for the game at Sheffield Wednesday, but it does seem to be a good chance to experiment a little.

Wrack and Nicholls are nearing full training now, but still unavailable and influential skipper Dobson and new signing Bedeau are unlikely to be declared fit. It still wouldn’t surprise me to see new signing Carlos Fangueiro get a start at the club he was on trial at earlier this summer. Allan Picken, if fit, might also get a start and Dickie Dosh could also be considering playing Pead in the middle after his successful outing there on Saturday (thus giving Kinsella’s legs a rest) as well as bringing in Demontagnac on the left wing. Constable, if recovered from his injury, could also be a possibility up front.

The 16, therefore, is likely to come from:

Ince, Gilmartin, Westwood, Gerrard, and/or Roper and/or Picken, Taylor, Fangueiro, Pead, Keates, Demontagnac, Sam, Butler, Constable, Wright, plus a couple of the youngsters.

Plymouth have a new manager as well, the outspoken and somewhat eccentric Ian Holloway. His major changes have been to bring in Manchester United youngster Sylvan Ebanks-Blake after his release from Old Trafford as well as the veteran and ever-dangerous Barry Hayles.

Their influential midfielder Lilian Nalis was missing with an injury on Saturday (as was former Bolton and Charlton full back Anthony Barness), but may now figure, as could Hungarian International midfielder Buszacky. Amongst the other names to look out for are Northern Ireland International Tony Capaldi, the dangerous and tricky David Norris in midfield, the goal scoring captain Paul Wotton, former Everton striker Nick Chadwick and another ex Manchester United youngster in Bojan Djordic.

They lined up on Saturday like this:

Luke McCormick, Paul Connolly, Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, Hasney Aljofree, Tony Capaldi, David Norris, Paul Wotton (captain), Luke Summerfield, Lee Hodges; Barry Hayles, Nick Chadwick. Substitutes: Gary Sawyer, Reuben Reid, Akos Buzsaky, Bojan Djordjic, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

And yes, for those curious to know, midfielder Luke Summerfield is the son of former Saddler Kevin Summerfield.

Predictions?

You don’t think I’m going to go over the top on this one, surely? Four games into the season and still unbeaten and coming off the back of a superb fight back on Saturday, with a 92nd minute equaliser, we should be going into this one brimming with confidence and looking for a shock. Plymouth, however, are a very long way from being push-overs.

Holloway’s men have got off to something of a flyer, following a season of struggle last year and have been there or there abouts at the top of the Championship so far this season. They were, however, bought back down to earth with a bump on Saturday, losing 2 – 1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday, who have been struggling until this point. What made that worse, of course, is that Wednesday are managed by former boss Paul Sturrock.

This game may well depend on how Holloway reacts to Saturday’s result. He might have been tempted to rest some players, but their poor defending in the home defeat might mean that he wants to work on his first choice squad. If that’s the case, I can’t see us getting anything from this game, but, if they take it lightly in any way, a shock might be on the cards.

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If you are going to win things, you don’t just need skill, you also need character – in this Division, in bucketloads. The Saddlers proved this afternoon that they have it.

Richard Money’s solution to his first half problems was to bring on Pead for Kinsella, Fanguiero for Wright and Demontagnac for Fox during the course of the second half.

All of the changes worked, each one improving the side, as Walsall began to get more posession and look more dangerous. Pead hardly wasted a pass and the two wingers looked very dangerous, especially the Portuguese debutant.

Eventually, as Walsall got a hold, Kris Taylor burst into the area, in the 79th minute, to slot home and give the wonderful travelling band of Saddlers something to start really cheering about.

From then on, Walsall got better and better, looking more and more threatening, with Pead, Butler and Sam all going close.

Finally, as the game went into stoppages, Fangueiro got the ball in the box from Gerrard, turned beautifully and slotted the ball home for a late, late point.

It’s now four games played and we’re still undefeated and this draw should really give players, staff and fans confidence that we are going places this season.

The Fat Controller gave his Man of the match to Craig Pead, for his introduction turned the game.

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