With two wins out of two and no goals conceded, it might be easy to get a little carried away at the moment. Fortunately, Saturday should see a sterner test than either game so far, with the arrival at Bescot of newly relegated Hartlepool United. Still, it has to be said, they aren’t exactly a club without any problems!

Richard Money will be faced with an embarrassment of riches in some areas for this game, but will also have one difficult choice to make.

Ince will be continuing in goal, of course, but there is no news yet as to whether Gilmartin has recovered from his ankle injury to sit on the bench, or if it will be young McKeown again.

The back four is likely to stay the same, with Pead, Gerrard, Roper and Taylor, but Picken will be pushing hard for a recall, as will Westwood against his old club.

Midfield gives the manager the most headaches, with skipper Dobson out with his head injury. The most likely replacement is a straight swop for Keates, but he also has the option of putting Taylor in central midfield, Demontagnac on the wing and Fox at left back. I would suspect he’ll go for the Keates option, however, as that causes the least disruption.

Up front, the blossoming Butler/Sam partnership will almost certainly continue, with Constable as the adequate back up.

That leaves a team looking like:

Ince, Pead, Gerrard, Roper, Taylor, Wright, Kinsella, Keates, Fox, Butler, Sam

Subs: Gilmartin or McKeown, Westwood, Picken, Demontagnac, Constable.

Hartlepool have other problems. New manager Danny Wilson has been told he has to cut his squad dramatically, as they are, at the moment, operating above the Divisional wage cap. Out have gone star striker Adam Boyd (to Luton) and a few others (including midfielder Darrell Clarke, who played against us last week as he’s on loan at Rochdale), leaving them with a shortage of experienced resources, while no one has been allowed to join due to the transfer embargo which is a result of exceeding the wage cap.

The other players who have left are: Chris Llewellyn (Wrexham), Darren Craddock (York), Neil Wilkinson, Steven Istead, Jack Wilkinson, Hugh Robertson, James Winter, Andy Appleby (all released).

Still there, however, is Aussie danger man Joel Porter, who is their main goal threat, and star defender Michael Nelson.

Predictions? Now things start to get a little more difficult.

Hartlepool lost their opening game at home to Swindon and then drew at Macclesfield on Tuesday night. That doesn’t tell the whole story, however, as they were probably the better side against bookie’s favourites Swindon, but contrived to miss no fewer than two penalties.

Walsall’s problems all revolve around the absence of influential skipper Dobson. The ex Brentford man has been outstanding so far and the key to this game may well be how well we cope without him. Goals may be a little more difficult to come by with Kinsella and Keates in the middle, so I’m, tempted to go with a 1 – 0 to the Saddlers.