The Fat Controller reporting from the Racecourse Ground.

Walsall go in at half time with deserved lead, according to the Fat Controller. The Saddlers have been in control, with Fox and Pead playing reasonably well, Wright having a good game and Bedeau probably his best game for the club.

Up front, Sam and Butler have managed to resurrect their early season partnership and are looking very dangerous, with a poor looking Wrexham defence struggling to cope with them.

The back four have also been in command, although we were lucky once when a slip by Westwood left Llewellyn with an open goal, only for him to fluff the chance completely.

We took the lead via Hector Sam’s fifth goal of the season, as Gerrard flicked on a corner for Sam to bury his header.

So far, so good.

Walsall’s injury woes in midfield have continued this afternoon, as we will be missing not just Dean Keates, but, as many suspected, Michael Dobson.

The line up is:

Ince, Westwood, Roper, Gerrard, K Taylor, M Wright, Pead, Fox, Bedeau, Butler, Sam

The bench is Bossu, Demontagnac, Bradley, T Wright and Dann.

Richard Money will be facing a new challenge this week. He’ll be having to pick the team up following the home defeat to Swindon Town. Granted that he has managed to meet every problem head on so far and he must have been planning for this day, given its eventual inevitability, but he will be having to plan for it without the presence of Mark Kinsella, now gone to Charlton, and it is in midfield that we have looked weakest so far all season. Dicky has plans for re-inforcements in the centre during the transfer window, but we have to get through until January 1st successfully. The testing of a Football Manager’s credentials never stops.

Money’s problems will be a little more difficult than just finding a replacement for Kinsella, however, as Dean Keates’ knee injury might keep him out again, as he’s rated as “touch and go”. If that is the case, Darren Wrack is probably a week away from match fitness and Craig Pead looks the most likely player to come in alongside Dobson.

There are no injury problems in the rest of the squad, however, other than Allan Picken still recovering from his knee operation, so I would expect a line up of:

Ince, Westwood, Dann or Gerrard, Roper, Taylor, M Wright or Bedeau, Dobson, Pead, Fox, T Wright or Sam (eager to start against his former club) and Butler.

Bossu, plus Demontagnac and whoever misses out on the first XI should make up the bench.

Wrexham Manager Dennis Smith has a few problems as well, however.

Defender Steve Evans will be starting a four match ban, following his second red card of the season for violent conduct, against Boston last week. Midfielder Mark Jones, who has an impressive seven goals to his name so far this season also picked up an injury during the warm up in that game and will be missing, making it a very expensive game indeed.

Predictions?

Well, Wrexham stand a not very impressive 18th in the table, with only 23 points from 20 games. 18 of those 23 points have, however, come at home, so this is far from being a pushover. Personally, in view of the problems we are likely to have in midfield, I’d be happy with a point.

For those lagging behind with the Christmas shopping a trip into Europe normally occasions the chance to load up with duty frees. Unfortunately at League Two level it’s a short hop over the border to the Welsh karaoke capital, a town with more than its fair share of hostelries.

Of course it goes without saying that this is a trip where its unlikely Saddlers fans will be welcomed like long lost brothers from League One, so admittance to The Turf, the pub that used to literally overlook the ground is not guaranteed, or best advised.

That said the town centre has plenty of other options. The Plas Coch just off the bypass has traditionally been more welcoming to visiting fans, and is home to a decent pint. While right in the centre itself there are cavernous Wetherspoons namely the Elihu Yale and Lloyd’s No 1, both of which are above average examples of the usual High Street chains.

If you fancy something a bit more traditional then The Horse and Jockey on a pedestrianised area just off the main shopping street offers a couple of guest ales to its patrons, although very compact with elbow room at a premium on Saturdays.

If you decide to take the scenic route via Whitchurch A41 etc. I’ve always found The Kingsmill to be worth a visit, just on the approach to the town centre via Kingsmill Road.

The simple explanation would be to blame the Manager of the Month curse, of course. Or you could blame the ref for one or two bewildering decisions, especially the yellow card for Roper which made him too frightened to tackle the player for the first goal (when will referees learn the difference between a genuine attempt to win the ball that’s slightly mistimed, when contrasted with his refusal to book a Swindon player a few minutes later for a tackle from behind in a similar position?).

Really, though, it’s better to admit we just ran into a better team on the day.

Granted the fact that Mark Wright decided to have one of his absent days didn’t help, but Swindon, playing a fluid system of 4 3 3 when in possession, moving to a 4 1 4 1 when we had the ball, had several players who just had too much pace for us. It was particularly noticable in the midfield, where Dobson, Kinsella and Fox were all found wanting, as they struggled to match the sheer speed of the Swindon midfield.

Add to that the fact that the Robins also had the outstanding individual on the pitch, in the shape of number 34 Michael Timlin, who, playing just in front of the back four, broke up just about every attack we made and the result looked more and more inevitable once they had taken the lead.

The game was won with a goal in each half, but Walsall has few chances to get themselves back inot the game once Jutkiewicz rounded Roper on the edge of the box, with the defender unwilling to make the tackle as he was already on a yellow, to coolly slot past Clayton Ince.

Swindon then didn’t really enamour the crowd much with some blatant time wasting, which the referee let go unpunished, but it’s difficult to understand why they were doing it, whent hey didn’t really look in any trouble.

Chances for the home side were few and far between. Westwood had a header cleared off the line early on, Kinsella had an overhead kick which was saved comfortably by the ‘keeper, Pead (on for Kinsella) made one tremendous run and crossed only for Butler to mistime his jump and head over and Pead, again, produced a long range effort which clipped the top of the bar, but, by then , Swindon had gone two up, as the referee gave a dubious looking penalty against Scott Dann and Welsh International Christian Roberts scored.

Richard Money made what I thought was his first tactical errors of the season, throwing no less than four strikers on to try and save the game (including Dann, thrown up front when Gerrard came on), when it was in the midfield that the afternoon was lost, so they got no decent possession.

Roper and Dann came out of the game with some credit, as did Ince, but no one else can really hold their head up too high, other than the two subs, Pead and Sam, who looked like they should have been on earlier in place of Kinsella, struggling to keep up, and the ineffective Tommy Wright.

Let’s hope that, with the home record gone, we can relax and get back to winning ways quickly, as the other results weren’t too bad and we are still 9 points clear of fourth.

Well, it had to happen sooner or later, didn’t it – Dicky Dosh winning Manager of the Month? Let’s face it, he’d been extremely unlucky not to have picked up any of the previous three awards this season, so it could count as poetic justice that he finally picked it up for a month when there are three other managers with better records, taking cup games into account. Whatever, it’s now time to try and break the curse of the award and take another three points in our seemingly inexorable march towards promotion against Swindon tomorrow, in a first versus third clash.

It’s also going to be an emotional farewell for Mark Kinsella tomorrow, as he returns next week as Coach to the club where he made over 200 appearances, Charlton Athletic. Kinsella had come in for some criticism in his first season, when he suffered from a string of injuries, and last season, when Merson seemed to freeze him out of the playing side, but has proved his worth in the middle of the park this season, as he and Dobson have looked our most accomplished partnership. He will be missed, but we must be thankful to Charlton for giving permission for his swansong in the Swindon game.

Walsall should be able to welcome back skipper Dobson from injury, which will be a relief, given the patched up nature of the midfield at Bury on Tuesday. Craig Pead did, however, perform well in that game, so may well be pushing for a start. Tony Bedeau also will be hoping to have shrugged off his calf strain to take his place in the side, but Dean Keates looks like missing out.

Money’s difficult decision is likely to be whether to disturb the blossoming partnership between Dann and Roper in order to bring back Anthony Gerrard. I suspect it depends whether he thinks youngster Dann needs a rest yet or not. I would suspect us to line up:

Ince, Westwood, Dann or Gerrard, Roper, Taylor, M Wright, Kinsella, Dobson, Fox, T Wright, Butler

Bossu, Pead, Dann or Gerrard, Sam and Demontagnac look like making up the bench.

Swindon it is then, home of the Great Western railway and Mark Lamarr. Nevermind, one out of two ain’t too bad.

They have a couple of injury problems, as former Saddlers target, striker Lee Peacock, is doubtful with a shoulder injury and Royce Brownlie has a dead leg picked up against Mansfield.

Swindon go into this game in third place, a full ten points behind the Saddlers, following their somewhat turbulent season, losing Denis Wise and Gus Poyet and with Paul Sturrock taking over. Their away record is very similar to the Saddlers, being:-

Played 10, won 5, drawn 3, lost 2, for 12, against 9, points 18

(We have drawn one more and lost one less and we’ve scored one more goal).

That all suggests that this will be a very close game, but the odds are surely on DD’s men breaking the manager of the month hoodoo and Walsall stretching their lead even further.

The club have given Mark Kinsella permission to join the coaching staff at Charlton Athletic.

This came as a bolt from the blue, with no rumours being circulated before the announcement yesterday evening.

Kinsella was originally given a coaching role at the club by Paul Merson, in what turned out to be one of his few decent decisions, but it is not in the coaching capacity that he’s likely to be most missed. Kinsella, having been frozen out of the playing side during Merson’s tenure, has, this season, despite limiting his opportunities, been one of our better performers in the centre of the park. Kinsella and Dobson has certainly been the best looking partnership.

Richard Money has said that we had an agreement with Kinsella that he would be allowed to leave, should a Premiership team come in and we could hardly stand in his way, especially when it is a team where he had such a successful playing career.

A compensation package has been agreed and it will prove interesting how Dicky Dosh will go about replacing the former Irish International both on and off the field. Rumours have already started that Nick Barmby is one target.

Charlton have given us permission to play him on Saturday, which will give fans a chance to give him a decent send off, not to mention help us over the current midfield injury crisis.

Well, the Fat Controller says he’s never seen anything like it. There we were, second half with the linesman having a complete and utter mare, not getting a decision right, when the ref goes over to the fourth official, they call the linesman over (running the full length of the field in the process) and promptly “sub” him! No question in the Fat Controller’s mind that, no matter what they say, he wasn’t injured. Never mind, we were the better side anyway!

Cold, wet Tuesday nights at Bury, with a patched up midfield are the games that can win you Championships. Make no bones about it, if we are celebrating next May, this game will have gone a very long way towards that success.

The Saddlers spent a little too much time on the back foot in the first half, as the team, devoid of the injured Dobson and Keates, was put under some pressure by a young and mobile Bury side, in which former Walsall player Andy Bishop was always a threat. Clayton Ince was forced into action, making a couple of good saves, but the defence stood firm, making several good blocks. At the other end, the Butler/Tommy Wright partnership was also giving the home side quite a few problems and Warrington made one tremendous save from the Saddlers’ leading scorer.

The second half of the game exploded, however. First Bishop missed a good chance, then Warrington had to make a great reaction save at the foot of the post. After 52 minutes, however, Scott put the home side in front, following a corner, shooting home from 8 yards.

In an immediate riposte, the Saddlers broke forward and a long range effort smacked against the post.

Ince then made one tremendous save and one good one, to keep the scoreline at 0 - 1, before Walsall won another corner. Ian Roper met the cross, the ball was cleared off the line, then the rebound was clearly handled on the line. The referee gave the penalty, but, after consulting his linesman, gave the goal to Roper. For all Bury’s protests, common sense this morning should be telling them that the goal being given was better than a penalty and the inevitable red card for the player concerned.

One interesting stat, of course, is that Ian Roper has scored 5 in 11 years, but three of them have come this season.

Warrington had, by this time, been injured and had to receive lengthy treatment. With no sub keeper on the bench, Bury were in trouble, but it is difficult to know whether that had any effect or not when, after 85 minutes, Kinsella took a left wing corner and Hector Sam, on for Mark Wright, was given the free-est free header since free headers were invented (well, at least since the very similar one at home against Wycombe) and gleefully planted home his fourth of the season.

There was just time for one more piece of drama. Warrington had to go off and Andy Bishop took over in goal. In the dying seconds, Bury won a free kick on the edge of the area and Bishop came up to take it. In a game that had had everything, the Fat Controller was certain he would score, but the wall did its job.

First half to Bury, second to us, but the Fat Controller says we did just about deserve it. There were two turning points, the replacement of the linesman and the arrival of Hector Sam, who looked good.

Man of the match? The Fat Controller was tempted to give it to the sub linesman, but, in the end, plumped for the rock that is Ian Roper.

With Swindon losing, it’s 9 points clear. Onwards and upwards!

As we revealed yesterday, Dobson and Keates are out of tonight’s game at Bury, although Danny Fox has passed his fitness test.

The team looks like it’s lining up

Ince, Westwood, Dann, Roper, Fox, M Wright, Kinsella, Taylor, Bedeau, T Wright, Butler.

The bench is Bossu,Pead, Gerrard, Sam and Demontagnac