Typical Saddlers, isn’t it? There you are, doing well for a change and you get a chance to show off in front of a national live TV audience and what do you do? Produce a really sterile game.

Mind you, it does take two to tango and Paul Ince’s priority as the new Macclesfield manager seems to have been to tighten up at the back, leading to him flooding the midfield in a 3 5 2. Quite how that appraoch equates with winning a home cup tie is another matter, unless he’s playing for penalties.

Walsall should have had enough to put this lot away despite Ince’s tactics, however, except too many players went missing on the night. Richard Money went with what is, in the absence of the injured Gerrard and Westwood, his favoured team and line up of:

Ince, Pead, Roper, Dann, Taylor, Wright, Dobson, Keates, Fox, Butler and Sam.

The story of the game can be told very simply, however. Macclesfield put us under pressure for 15 minutes, after which the referee might as well have blown the final whistle.

Walsall just didn’t get a grip in midfield. Keates’s night was summed up by the fact that his first four challenges were all free kicks, the last of which was on the edge of our own area. After that, he did produce the occasional decent pass, but was, in the main, awful. Fox was anonymous most of the evening and Mark Wright had the kind of game not even the Mark Wright Appreciation Society could possibly appreciate (other than some good set piece delivery).

To make things worse, Pead couldn’t find a red shirt to save his life (and was easily skinned on a few occasions), while Kris Taylor had also left his passing boots at home.

The result was that the two strikers were completely isolated and must have been wondering what the ball looked like.

Even with their extra possession, however, Macclesfield still only managed two shots on target all night and they were both dribbly little efforts straight at Ince. Walsall were no better, however, despite Keates hitting the outside of the near post with an inswinging corner and Hector Sam going close twice with a left foot piledriver and a well struck right foot long range effort.

Dicky Dosh tried to mix things up, withdrawing Sam for Wrack, so as to match Macclesfield in the middle of the park, but that failed to improve matters and he left bringing Bedeau on for the ineffective Mark Wright far too long.

Money’s last gamble was going to be to bring on Ishmel Demontagnac to attack down the left flank and try to stretch them, but that plan was thwarted by Pead, whose miserable performance was capped by a disgraceful challenge on Bullock which lead to a deserved straight red.

Quite what Macclesfield plan to do in the replay, I don’t know, but let’s hope they realise in future that the plan in Cup Ties when at home should be to try and win them, not keep a clean sheet.

This used to be one of those magical football days – first round proper of the FA Cup. Unfortunately, like so many things in the game, it’s not the same as it used to be, with games put back to Monday night in the interests of making more money from the TV companies – not that we will say no to the extra cash, of course, but knowing who you’ve drawn in the next round before you even play your tie, just doesn’t seem right.

Still, on to business.

Richard Money has taken Walsall away for this weekend, for training and team bonding at Lilleshall, in order to have the best possible preparation. The difference this year, in going to somewhere without bars, is noticeable.

Dicky will have a full squad to choose from for the tie, with the exception of Gerrard (ankle) and Picken (knee), both of whom, however, may be fit for next weekend. Westwood has recovered from the strain which made him come off at half time last week.

It’s probable that the Saddlers will line up much as usual, with:

Ince, Pead or Westwood, Westwood or Dann, Roper, Taylor, Wright, Dobson, Keates, Fox, Sam and Butler.

The player under the most threat is, probably, Hector Sam, as the now fit again Darren Wrack could drop into that role.

The Silkmen’s new manager, Paul Ince, has, in the meantime, started to change things at the club. There’s a new Assistant in the experienced Ray Mathias and a couple of new players, in John Murphy and Simon Wiles. Both should be in the squad tonight, as Macclesfield are reporting a clean bill of health at the moment.

Predictions?

The two teams have already met once this season, of course, a game at Bescot , which resulted in a 2 – 0 win for the Saddlers, with goals from Hector Sam (his first for the club) and Scott ZiDann. That didn’t tell the whole story, however, as Macclesfield looked very neat and tidy, if punchless. It has to be said that I don’t think they’d have scored that day, if we’d have still been playing at midnight.

That seems to tell the tale of their entire season so far, as they haven’t got a win under their belts at all yet and have scored just 15 times in 17 games.

Ince has made a difference at the moment, with them getting a creditable 0 – 0 at Wrexham last time out, but you’ve got to fancy the Saddlers to progress, even if it means bringing them back to Bescot.

One last point is that Jeff Stelling’s guest in the Sky studio is non other than Paul Merson, who refused to go “up the jungle” because of his fear of spiders, he admitted at the weekend. I’m sure Saddlers’ fans will want to give him a warm, appreciative welcome.

Macclesfield is one of the friendliest away days around, although unfortunately The Star pub near the ground which was great fun on our last two visits has apparently closed down.

Equally unfortunate is the fact that the best pub near the station, namely the Tavern on Waters Green doesn’t open until 7pm!

So what is left? Well there are several other fairly unremarkable pubs at the station end, the pick of which is probably the George and Dragon. Heading out of town towards the ground, I’ve always quite liked The Albion on the main London Road, while tucked own Byrons Lane about 10 minutes walk from the ground on the town side there is a gem called The Railway View which boasts a few real ales, and like most pubs in the area is extremely “away friendly”.

Since the alleged demise of The Star the nearest pub to the ground is now The Golden Lion on Moss Lane, about a five minute walk from the ground itself, a rather middling Tetley’s pub.

Honourable mention to The Sun Inn near the town centre for its attempts to provide mind-blowing strength real ale amongst its unusual selection of beer and cider, and on both my previous visits I’ve scored a much needed lift from a friendly local.

At the ground itself its unlikely away supporters will gain access to the extremely compact Blues Bar near the main stand, and I can’t find any information as to the outcome of the club’s recent application for a drinks license for both the new stand and the away end, however the burgers were superb last time I recall!!

Walsall Manager Richard Money is not looking for a cash windfall from this year’s FA Cup.

Money, speaking before the players left for a weekend at Lilleshall, in preparation for the first round, has said that he sees the possible prospect of getting through Monday’s away tie at Macclesfield and setting off on a Cup run, as being a way of letting the players pit themselves against teams from a higher Division.

He also says that he is not in the position of most managers at this level, of needing the cash from a Cup run for team building, as he has not even spent the budget he was given in the close season. It seems that, with those words, and Monday’s game being televised, that there will be funds available if required to strengthen in the January window.

I never did understand International Football Managers.

Clayton Ince has been playing out of his skin this season. Last Saturday, he achieved nine clean sheets out of nine at home this season in the League. His shot stopping and domination of his penalty area have been exemplary. Surely, you would think, he would get a call up by Trinidad and Tobago for their game against Austria next week.

Well, he hasn’t, but the much criticised Hector Sam has!

Well, you live and learn. Let’s hope Hector gets a confidence boost with his call up to the squad and recaptures his early season form.

Former Walsall centre back Stuart Watkiss has been promoted to be temporary Manager at Divison 2 Grimsby Town.

The Mariners had parted company today with manager Graham Rodger, following a really poor run of results, despite the fact that he had only been in the job since Russell Slade left in June.

Former Kidderminster Manager Watkiss was number 2 to Rodger and has taken over for the time being at the troubled club, who, ironically, inflicted on the Saddlers their only defeat of the season so far.

It looks like this is going to be a season of cliches, as we were served up a game of two halves yesterday. The important thing is, however, that Richard Money yet again proved his tactical nous to change things at half time, so Walsall ran out reasonably comfortable winners in the end.

It didn’t look that way for the first 45 minutes, however.

Dicky Dosh decided to replace the injured Gerrard with Westwood and, much more surprisingly, moved Fox to left back and bought in Wrack on the left wing. During the first half, the changes didn’t work.

Central midfield was possibly the main cause of the labouring again, as the Dobson/Keates partnership just couldn’t get going. This time, however, the entire left of the side compounded that, as Keates and Wrack weren’t getting in the game and Fox couldn’t find his passing range at all.

The fact that Craig Pead’s distribution was all to pot just helped a situation where there was little tempo to the side and very little constructive passing.

Former Walsall triallist Jamie Ward was causing problems with his pace, but it was also possible to see how Torquay have failed to score in the previous six games, as Ince had only long range efforts to deal with, other than a chance for ward just before half time, when Westwood, feeling an injury, was slow to react and the Torquay forward lifted the chance over the bar.

At the other end, chances were also few and far between, but Dobson had a good effort blocked, a Keates free kick was well saved low down by Abbey and Wright, Butler and Sam combined superbly to set up Keates, who drove the best chance of the half well wide.

The Saddlers came out after half time a completely different outfit and not just becuase the injured Westwood had been replaced by Dann. The tempo was stepped up and, for the first time, midfielders (notably Wrack) and defenders (notably Pead) started to make runs ahead of the forwards, all to much greater effect.

The pressure told almost straight away, as we forced a couple of corners and Keates swung a perfect in-swinger to the far post for Roper to power his header home. Two in a season? Unheard of!

From then on, there was really only one team in it. Butler had a header tipped over, Wrack had a couple of chances blocked, Fox shot well wide when in a superb position and Butler was completely unmarked, Dobson had a chance blocked and Abbey made an excellent save from Keates.

There were a couple of substitutions added too, with Taylor replacing Sam, allowing us to move to a 4 4 1 1, with Wrack playing off the striker (and looking very, very good) and Bedeau getting a run out against his former employers.

Bedeau had time to show his worth with one superb piece of play which went unnoticed by many. Roper went up for a free kick, got caught and went down injured. As Torquay broke, guess who had dropped into the centre half position to cover? Yet another example of the superb organisation of Dicky Dosh’s side.

Man of the Match? Absolutely no doubt whatsoever, it was the colossus that was Ian Roper. If that bloke isn’t in the PFA team of the Year for Division 2, there’s no justice in the world.

With Lincoln and Swindon both losing, it’s onwards and upwards, though!

Ah, Torquay. What does that remind me of again?

“What did you expect to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain?”

Or was it Walsall 8 Torquay United 4?

It doesn’t really matter, though, as it’s home League action again tomorrow, and an opportunity to widen those all important gaps between us and fourth place and us and eighth place.

Manager Richard Money has lost the services of Anthony Gerrard through injury this week, so changes will take place in the back four. Given Ince will start in goal and Allan Picken is expected to make a reserve appearance instead this week, we should look like this at the back:-

Ince, Pead or Westwood, Westwood or Dann, Roper and Taylor.

The rest of the squad are all available, so the midfield and attack should come from the ranks of Wright, Wrack, Bedeau, Dobson, Kinsella, Keates, Fox, Demontagnac, Butler, Sam, Constable and Nicholls.

Torquay Manager Ian Atkins has a few problems to sort out. They have several players struggling with injury, including defender Craig Taylor and experienced strikers Kevin Hill and former Baggie Micky Evans. They do also have Wolverhampton born danger man Lee Thorpe in the squad, but he has been playing at centre back, rather than up front!

Ex Rotherham midfielder Darren Gardner has been freed by them this week, despite having played no less than 10 times for them this season.

Atkins has monster Leo Fortune-West playing the last game of his loan period up front and he’s likely to partner our former trialist Jamie Ward, their top scorer with 6 goals.

They have also bought in a loan player this week from Southampton, Welsh under 17 International Kyle Critchell, variously described as a midfielder and a left back, so I’ve no idea where he’s likely to feature!

Predictions?

Richard Money has publically told his players not to get over protective of the clean sheet record at home and that teams are there to be beaten, following last week’s goalless draw against the Franchise. Torquay might be the team to carry that pledge out on.

Despite their 0 – 0 aagainst Shrewsbury last time out, they are in a bad run of form and have failed to score in the last six games, the last win being on 16th September.

They are 18th in the table and struggling. This should be a comfortable home win, although one word of caution should be added. They are actually in a better position away than at home. They are 13th in the “away” table, with two wins and three draws, yet they are 20th in the “home” table, with an identical record.

Great news for Walsall fans today, as Dicky Dosh failed, for the third month in succession, to pick up the “Manager of the Month” curse.

The award instead went to Lincoln City’s John Schofield, for their tremendous run during the month, during which the team went goal crazy.

Yes, folks, issue number 2 of the new fanzine will be making an appearance on Saturday, at the Torquay game.

Hopefully, the quality of the writing will have been maintained with the publishing of one of the pieces I sent in and, for those who objected to the front cover, I am assured that it no longer has a Dingle doing performing his ablutions on the front page, but to make up, there is a picture of the gorgeous Helen Chamberlain semi-naked on Page 3. (Some mishtake, shurely?).

Buy it, or be square.