At the start of this run of late January/February games culminating in the trip to Leeds, I said that I thought that we needed to take seven points to stay comfortably out of trouble. Well, having lost to Norwich and drawn with Gillingham and Charlton, tomorrow’s fixture with Bristol Rovers has suddenly become another of those “must win” fixtures, followed as it is by two away games. Granted that the performances in the two home fixtures were much better, but now we are likely to be faced with severe injury and suspension problems.

Deeney will be missing, following his brainless sending off on Tuesday night, but it doesn’t stop there. Hughes and Smith both have injuries which have prevented them training, so Hughes’s appearance on the bench in the week was desperation stakes. Weston’s problem when he went off was a hamstring, so that should mean a couple of weeks, if it’s just a tweak, or six to eight weeks, if it’s a tear. Jones will still be, presumably missing, as he slowly turns into this season’s version of Stephen Roberts or Allan Picken. Trouble is, he’s a much more important member of the squad than either of those two unfortunates.

Hutchings’ main choice, given the paucity of resources, is who to play on the right wing and who to play in central midfield (given the near certainty of Parkin replacing Deeney). Nicholls did little on replacing Till on Tuesday night, so it’s a matter of pays your money and takes your choice there, but Taundry did enough to keep his slot ahead of Bradley. Of course, he might go completely left of field and play a 4 5 1, with Taundry holding and Bradley and Mattis having a free role, but I don’t think he’d take the risk of Byfield or Parkin as a lone striker.

As for Rovers, manager Trollope (still one of my all time favourite footballing names, from back in the days when it was his Dad, rather than him), has a couple of injury problems. There will probably be a few changes from the team that lost to Orient, as full back Aaron Lescott and top scorer Chris Lines are both suffering from injuries picked up in that game.

Trollope said: “We have got a couple of injuries. Aaron Lescott is going to be struggling with a hip flexor injury and Chris Lines had some severe abdominal pains later on in the game at Orient. He has not trained he is going to have a scan and is looking doubtful as well. Both of those players will be a blow for us, but it will give others a chance”.

Predictions?

Rovers lie ninth in the table, seven points better off than the Saddlers. Their record, both at home and away, though, is a curious mixture of good and bad. Away, which is what interests us until Tuesday night, at least, it’s won 4 (not bad), drawn 1 and lost 9 (terrible). They have conceded 29 goals away, including 5 in their last defeat at improving Orient. This, then ought to be a game we should win, if the reserve players do their stuff and we don’t get a ref like we did on Tuesday!