Saddlers will be without the suspended Ant Gerard this afternoon after the package containing the evidence for his appeal against his red card was delayed beyond the specified deadline. Roy Whalley revealed that the club will now seek compensation from the Royal Mail, and that Gerrard must serve a three game suspension commencing this afternoon.

That could mean a recall to the squad for Aussie Allan Picken but I would expect Craig Pead to be recalled to right-back with Westwood starting at centre-half.

The visitors are rooted to the foot of the table with huge pressure reportedly on manager Brian Horton who has chopped and changed the line-up without success so far.

They turned in a reasonable performance at Lincoln and just failed to emulate the Saddlers’ comeback when denied by the woodwork late on.
Former Saddlers veteran Ian Brightwell is out injured along with Andrew Smart, but I wouldn’t expect this to be an easy game. As we know all too well when the manager’s job is on the line it has been known for a decent performance to materialise out of the blue.