The Priestfield Stadium is where it all started, really. There we were, having struggled badly through the end of the previous season, finishing in a very lowly position, a new team hastily assembled team of journeymen and has beens (and the odd foreign import), managed by an unknown with no record in management at all. No wonder the papers and the bookies had us as favourites to go down that season. Trouble is, the Manager was Ray Graydon, we won 1 – 0 that day and the rest is history. Nothing has ever been boring about Walsall football club since.

Richard Money’s dilemma tomorrow is going to be finding a system that will give us goals. We didn’t play well against Swansea last week, but didn’t play that badly either, and certainly had the chances to have drawn, or even won the game. Trouble is, we didn’t look like taking them.

Hopefully Tommy Mooney will have recovered and passed his fitness test today, but we have an otherwise clean bill of health, with Gerrard in for the suspended Roper the only major change. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 4 5 1 even if Mooney is fit, however, with Wrack or Demontagnac in the “hole”.

The likely line up is:

Ince, Weston, Gerrard, Dann, Boertien, Hall, Dobson, Sonner, Wrack, Demontagnac, Butler.

Manny Smith might well come in as cover on the bench, or he could take the risk of using Bradley, who can play centre half, as well as midfield. The usual suspects of Bossu, Sonko, Caneiro plus Mooney are likely to make up most of the bench.

Ronnie Jepson, the Gillingham Manager, will be without Efe Sodje, who is suspended. He also has some key players waiting for fitness tests in central defender Simon King (hamstring), defender Aaron Brown (leg), striker David Graham (leg) and striker Gary Mulligan (ankle).

Predictions?

We may have had a bad start to the season, but be glad you’re not a Gills fan. Three League games played, three lost (one to very unfancied Cheltenham) and only one goal scored, in a 3 – 1 defeat at Luton.

On that record, we aren’t going to get many better chances to get off the mark than tomorrow and I fancy us to sneak a win.