Well, who’d want to do a preview of this one? Unfortunately, I’m going to have to have a stab at the impossible, given the traumas that have been going on at the club this week. It isn’t just the poor performance last Saturday, or the fact that last year’s rivals, Hartlepool, have started in such good form, but we also just have no idea what the effect of Danny Sonner’s departure is likely to be on the team or, at this stage, whether any reinforcements are likely to arrive in time to play. If Sonner’s going is not for football reasons, then the eventual effect may be positive, but the initial impact may be different, as it leaves us so short in midfield.

Ian Roper will certainly be missing, having contracted what sounds to be a particularly nasty virus, and Boertien is, of course, out for some weeks, so the defence will be picking itself, with Ince, Weston, Dann, Gerrard and Fox.

In midfield, Dobson is fit, but the make up of the rest is anyone’s guess. If I were Money, I think I’d go for a 5 man midfield of Sonko, Dobson, Wrack, Bradley and Demontagnac with a lone striker. Even then, it’s certain that Sonko won’t last the 90 minutes. Still, the end of Ramadan is only a week and a half away!

Hartlepool were, of course, the team we pipped for the title on the very last day of last season, so they might think they have a score to settle. More importantly for them, however, will be the fact they have made a good start and are only three points behind leaders Leyton Orient. They will want to maintain their momentum.

They have a particularly dangerous strike force, in the shape of Porter and Ian Moore and they are the highest scorers in the Division, having beaten leaders Orient 4 – 2 last week. They haven’t, as yet, kept a clean sheet this season, however, so there must be some vulnerability at the back. Walsall’s problem, of course, is that our defence has been under pressure and we haven’t looked like scoring goals, either!

There may be some movement today on the loans front (and certainly should be next week), but, even if reinforcements do arrive on the scene in time to play at Hartlepool, it’s difficult to see them having much effect with no time to train or be integrated with the rest of the squad.

It’s hard to see anything other than a long, hard afternoon in the North East tomorrow.