The end of the season, and a pretty unlucky loss to round off the campaign.

Here’s a poll for you all – based on the season’s results and efforts, how have we done in your estimation?

So, how did we do this season?

• Beyond my wildest dreams! (84%, 366 Votes)
• About what I expected! (10%, 45 Votes)
• Awful. Smith out! (6%, 26 Votes)

Total Voters: 437

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Plenty of Saddlers went to the match at Crewe, but it doesn’t appear as if any of them were sober enough to write a coherent match report, so here’s a quick comment from BathSaddler on the match thread over on the message board

Disappointed to lose to the Football League’s ‘best little club’ [copyright CAFC] after we appeared to dominate the first hour or so in terms of shots on target, with Brandy hitting a post.

A great second half of the season that has sadly petered out in the last few weeks, but 1 defeat in 16 games is hardly a cause for complaint.

The Saddlers last competitive match for the season has NOT been played! Don’t forget we are in the final of the Walsall Senior Cup this Wednesday at the Banks’s. where the opponents are Stafford Rangers. Six quid in, 7.45 kick off if you’ve got nothing on!

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Well, it’s the end of the season party tomorrow, at Gresty Road, Crewe, but I suspect that Dean Smith will not be looking at it that way.

The fancy dress will be out in force, but Smith will almost certainly be concentrating on finishing the season on a high and boosting the confidence of the players before the Summer break (and, hopefully, help convince Grigg and Brandy that the club is moving forward and will be challenging for promotion again next season).

It won’t be easy to maintain the players’ concentration, of course. Smith needs to ensure that they don’t get carried away by the talk of Crewe fielding a team of Academy graduates, in the way that some of the fans have. That does not mean that they will be turning out a youth team in the fixture, as it will mean very few changes from the team that beat Sheffield United 1 – 0 in mid week.

Smith may have Andy Taylor back from injury, as he faces a fitness test on his injured hamstring. Skipper Andy Butler will be missing, however, as he could have played, but wants to make sure the broken bone in his foot heals properly.

For Crewe, England under 19 ‘keeper Ben Garrett will be making his debut. Their major doubt is over Luke Murphy. The 23 year old midfielder has been out with a groin injury, but his is one of the names that show what the “Academy team” means, as he is a graduate and has 150 appearances for the Railwaymen, with 20 goals, from midfield.

Predictions?

It entirely depends on which team wants it more, as with all end of season fixtures. That, for the Saddlers, means whether Smith can fire up the team to carry on that 15 game unbeaten run. Crewe have, however, won just two and lost four of their last six home games, so I’ll take an away win – just.

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The play-off dream ended yesterday as Walsall conceded a last gasp equaliser at home to Bury as the match finished 1-1. Great credit to Dean Smith and the team though for a remarkable run in 2013. Saddler Nic was the game and offered these thoughts via the message board:

As most people have said, it was just a real end of season game. Sometimes they are open, with both teams just going for it, plenty of chances and goal mouth action. This was the complete opposite. Everyone just seemed to be in holiday mode from the kick off. Then, without mustering a chance beforehand, we scored a quality team goal. From then until half time we could have had another, and looked the only side likely to go on and win. I think a second would have opened the flood gates.

After half time we were as bad as we have been all season. To me it seemed like the players knew that Swindon were winning at half time, so gave up the ghost. Brandy looked dangerous throughout and looked the only player likely to produce anything going forward. Felt sorry for Grigg today, he had no decent service and when he had the ball, had to hold it for eternity! Hemmings was lively when he came on, he’s worth giving a second chance. Johnstone was my MOTM. Dominated his area, got key decisions spot on, a season loan next year would be ideal if we could get it. He just seems to know what he’s doing, if that makes any sence?

Can’t really comment on their goal, couldn’t tell from the FTg Lower if they were offside or not.

Whatever happens, it’s been a great season. Best lap of honour for years too. Never usually lasts two mins without chivvy kids running on and spoiling it, well done all!!

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Two games left and the chances of sneaking into that play off slot seem to have almost disappeared. Not only do the Saddlers have to win their remaining games, but they also have to hope for Swindon and The Franchise to slip up in their run ins. Not very likely, you might think, but, unusually, I’ll start this week with the team news from Swindon and The Franchise:

Simon Ferry and Luke Rooney have joined an ever increasing injury list for the Robins, which has now reached the grand figure of ten. That means they only have 14 professionals to choose from and at least four of the youth team will have to be in the match day squad.

Meanwhile, over in the land of the concrete cows, the Franchise could be without both their first choice (Dean Lewington) and second choice (Adam Chicksen) left backs. First choice ‘keeper, David Martin, son of Talk Sport pundit Alvin, the man who criticises managers despite having got Southend relegated twice, will also be out, leaving ex Saddlers loanee Ian McLoughlin between the sticks.

Looks a little better, doesnt it?

Andy Butler and Andy Taylor are Dean Smith’s concerns. The two “Mr Reliables” were sorely missed in the draw at Scunthorpe, but there is a chance that Butler could be fit to play. Taylor is out, though, with his hamstring problem.

For Bury, already relegated and in the most dire financial problems, manager Kevin Blackwell will be able to add defenders Efe Sodje (see! they’ve got one too!) and Ethan Ebanks-Landell to his threadbare squad for the game. Veteran centre-back Sodje has completed a two-game ban while on-loan Wolves youngster Ebanks-Landell is back from a bout of illness.

Craig Fagan has one more game of a three-match suspension to serve but the former Hull forward will be back in contention for the final outing of the season against Yeovil.

Andy Bishop (foot), Craig Jones (thigh/hamstring) and skipper Steven
Schumacher (hernia) will not play again this term and long-term absentees Phil Picken (knee), Adam Lockwood (groin) and Shane Byrne (blood disorder) are also targeting pre-season but are back in light training.

Predictions?

It’s about time we put a bottom side away and I think we’ll go out on a high tomorrow.

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Remember those bloody awful grim days of October and November? Well, in a season where the Saddlers have put many things right, they have another chance tomorrow, with an opportunity to rub the 6th November out of the minds of the fans and one of the worst home performances of the season, a 1 – 4 home defeat to struggling Scunthorpe. Since then, of course, the Saddlers have become a team transformed (copywright R Whalley), with a magnificent run of form which has takenn them to the fringes of the play off race.

Most fans probably thought that the fat lady was clearing her throat after the 1 – 1 draw with Sheffield United, when better finishing would have put the Saddlers out of sight in the first half, but she was definitely sent back to wait in the wings after Swindon’s defeat at the Franchise on Tuesday and Sheffiled United’s catestrophic home defeat, which saw the departure of Danny Wilson. Now it’s three games left, three wins needed.

Dean Smith, following his third Manager of the Month nomination out of three, does have some problems, however. Mr Consistency, Andy Taylor, is out with his hamstring strain and may now miss the rest of the regular season. Smith does have James Chambers, looking a class act now he’s properly fit, back from injury, however, and he is likely to take over at left back, with Purkiss retaining the right back slot.

More of a worry is that Captain Fantastic, Andy Butler, is only rated 50/50, having broken a bone in his toe. If he does play, it will be with pain killing injections, showing his bravery once again (Adel Taraabt, please note). If he doesn’t make it, Dean Holden will probably deputise. He shoud make a more than adequate replacement, as the problem with him and Butler earlier in the season was that they are too much like each other.

Smith’s bit of great news is the return of leading scorer Will Grigg, who is fit for the game.

Brain Laws does have more problems. Despite being expected to return last week, captain Paul Reid could make an appearance in the game following a setback which ruled him out of the trip to Preston, which the Iron lost, meekly, 0 – 3.

Laws said that Reid “could be available this Saturday” after making his way back to full training.

Fellow defender Eddie Nolan is also expected to push for a first team place after pulling out of the clash at Deepdale with a tight hamstring.

He will battle with Christian Ribeiro for a position in the back four after the Welshman slotted into the right back spot in what was his first appearance for Scunthorpe since January.

The game could come too early for goalkeeper Sam Slocombe, but there are positive signs as he also trained properly for the first time this week since his thigh injury.

There will also be checks on Michael Collins (thigh) and Akpo Sodje (ankle) ahead of the game (how come everybody but us has got a Sodje?).

United’s other absentees Damien Mozika, Josh Walker, Callum Kennedy and Connor Jennings are all effectively out for the remainder of the season.

Predictions?

Scunthorpe’s current run of form is won 1, drawn 0, lost 5. Walsall’s is won 2, drawn 4, lost 0. Away win and dream on!

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Well, the final crunch has arrived. Ganted that many of the teams above us seem to be having, to a greater or lesser extent, a case of the jitters, but that doesn’t mean that the Saddlers can afford any slip ups in the remaining games. The first of those comes tomorrow, against one of the moneybags in the Division (or ought to be, given their gates) and a team that has tended to vastly under achieve at times, Sheffield United, and all on the day that the club have designated for the celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Saddlers.

The Bank Holiday demolition of Coventry City must certainly have boosted the confidence of the squad ahead of the game, especially as it was achieved without the services of leading goalscorer Will Grigg, as he tries to become our fitst 20 goal a s season striker since Jorge Leitao. Grigg is Smith’s only injury doubt, but it is difficult to see any changes for the game from Monday should Grigg fail to make it.

Danny Wilson has far more to worry about on the other side. Defender Tony McMahon will be suspended having picked up ten yellows and winger Dominic Poleon has been recalled by his parent club, Leeds. Defender Matt Hill will have a fitness test, having gone off on Monday with double vision, whereas Mark Howard, Lescinel Jean-Francois, Diego De Girolamo and Shaun Miller are all still out injured.

Predictions?

I’ve stopped trying to outguess what this team can achieve over the last few weeks, so I’ll just say home win.

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While there’s a football match on today there’s more of a battle behind the scenes as down-at-heel Coventry unleash an audacious plan to maintain their fragile football league status after the fiasco involving their golden share, a subsidiary company in administration and murky player registration issues.

Leaked information suggests that Coventry are pressing for slightly more than just a ground share at Bescot. Staring down the barrel of a gun, with oblivion on the trigger, SISU, Coventry’s owner, are desperate to exit their problem child investment with undue haste and have looked to Jeff Bonser for an answer.

Bonser is renowned in football for being one of the few owners to have made a silk purse out of a pig’s ear after his successful purchase of Walsall, the ground and the land underneath over a protracted period. SISU, recognising this, have sought his help to get them out of the mess they’ve made of Coventry.

UTS understands that on the table is a straight swap. SISU will use their massive financial backing to engineer a structured buyout of Bonser’s majority share of the club, plus the stadium, and his pension fund stake in the land.

This would give SISU an unencumbered club with the opportunity to provide fresh impetus and encourage new fans to turn up without the Bonser legacy to stop them, which would lead to an immediate lift of 2,000 on the average crowd according to sources close to UTS. Such a lift would see an early return on investment with the club continuing to be run on tight business lines.

In return, Bonser gets to roll the dice again, buying the assets, such as they are, of Coventry for a pittance off the receiver through new investment vehicle Talbot Limited (apparently registered in Cyprus).

With the new Coventry rising, Phoenix-like from the ashes of their imminent failure and relegation, the club, we are told by unnamed spies, will relocate to Nene Park, where there’s room for nearly 7,000 fans, including terracing, and also planning permission for a new hotel and conference facilities.

With Bonser’s experience in this field, and SISU’s desire to move on from their embarrassing relationship with a failed club and loggerhead attitude to supporter groups, the deal could be sewn up before today’s kick-off, with SISU putting a mid-day deadline on negotiations. The two sides have been locked in discussions in the Bescot Bar for days, and it has been closed as a precaution to enable lawyers to review preliminary paperwork in the event of a deal being reached.

The outcome could see a reverse in today’s game, with Walsall fans taking over the away end and Coventry playing in their home colours in recognition of this ground-breaking deal.

Nobody from the club was able to talk officially about the situation, as the ticket office was closed when we called for a statement. An answerphone message was indecipherable but could be taken as corroboration of this story as one clear phrase was “Coventry away”.

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The odds are getting longer on the play-off dream after another blank against Yeovil yesterday following up on the previous goalless draw against Hartlepool. TheGilbertAlsop offered his views on the message board:

The whole team defended superbly well today with the two centre-halves being the pick of the bunch. Johnstone hardly touched the ball at all and we restricted them to a couple of long range efforts from their big centre-half.
The first half was pretty equal I thought. Brandy going the closest with a long-range effort the keeper could only parry away. Although they had good spells of possession (their right-back appeared to be everywhere) they couldn’t do anything with it.
As soon as the second-half started we got Brandy more into the game and were all over them as we had wave after wave of attacks in the first ten minutes but came away with nothing to show for it and no real chances created.
Grigg came the closest just before he was substituted, at last forcing their keeper into a save from a run of successive corners. Hemmings came on for Grigg and Brandy played up top, with Hemmings on the left and Paterson on the right. We still couldn’t create a decent chance though and the game huffed and puffed to its inevitable goalless conclusion.
Although we were the slightly better team I think a draw was the best result.
Sawyers had a few minutes at the end and won a couple of headed flick-ons but you can’t really judge him on that alone.
Man of the match is anyone from Butler, Downing, James or Adam Chambers. I will plump for Downing who looked in control throughout and also kept possession well.

There were also two farcical moments when we went down to ten men. Brandy came off for five minutes in the first half as he appeared to have lost a shin pad or something like that and disappeared down the tunnel then got called back and after much faffing around on the bench eventually came back on.
Then with a couple of minutes left, Hemmings came off as I think he took a whack in the face. Baxendale was ready to come on, the paperwork handed in, then all of a sudden Hemmings rose from the dead (appropriately, for this time of year) then sprinted back on, leaving Baxendale jilted at the altar. Can anyone clear up what actually happened in both these cases?

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Well, fixtures don’t come much bigger than the two we have coming up over the Easter weekend. First of all comes Yeovil Town, one of the teams we are trying to catch and who have been wobbling a little of late. Win there on Good Friday and Monday’s game against Coventry, promotion rivals until their ten point deduction just today becomes even more important. You can assume that Sheffield United’s three games in hand make them uncatchable, but Yeovil and Tranmere certainly are, with the Merseysiders having two tough fixtures, away at leaders Doncaster and then away at Portsmouth on Monday, a side who have beaten Coventry at home and drawn at Doncaster in their last two fixtures. The Fat Lady may be clearing her throat, but she hasn’t started singing yet.

That makes the Yeovil game a must-not-lose, if not a must win and the Coventry game a certain must win. Hopefully they will be demoralised by the points deduction, especially as they have absolutely nothing left to pay for this season.

Dean Smith will have a fully fit squad to choose from, other than the doubts surrounding leading scorer Will Grigg and has even added to his options. Grigg hasn’t trained all week, following the hamstring problem he picked up on International duty with Nothern Ireland and the club have been making noises that he might only make the Coventry game. We shall see.

The addition comes in the shape of Bag Lady attacking midfielder, Romaine Sawyers. The Albion official site describes Sawyers as “Excellent technically, very intelligent and tactically bright. He is also a good creator and is a good No.10 who can play off the centre-forward in space”. His International record for St Kitts and Nevis, 4 goals in 3 games for the under 23s and 1 in three for the full team, suggests that he does have something about him.

Glovers manager Gary Johnson has also been busy. Their new loan signing, Angelo Balanta, is set to be involved after joining from QPR until the end of the season.

The 22-year-old, who can play on the left wing or up front, is no stranger to League One having spent three spells with MK Dons, the most recent coming at the start of the current campaign.

His arrival comes after two on-loan attackers returned to their parent clubs for treatment. Former Saddlers loanee Jordan Cook is back with Charlton so they can assess a knee injury, while fellow forward Wes Fletcher has returned to Burnley having sustained a knock.

Johnson also extended the loan of Fulham defender Dan Burn until the end of the campaign and secured the return of Middlesbrough midfielder Matty Dolan for the same period of time

Predictions?

We have to win both games. Do that and the dream will still be alive. It is within our compass.

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Very, very cold. A game which if it had been boxing Walsall would have won on points. But a draw was the result – leaving the Saddlers still slightly adrift of the play-off picture. TheGilbertAlsop offered these thoughts via the message board:

A disappointing day.

I can take losing or drawing but to approach this game the way we did has left me more disappointed. Why did Featherstone play? I like him but he is not a creative player. We should have played Baxendale instead and played more positively.

When Featherstone came off we looked a lot better. Hemmings had an impact straight away and had our best chance of the game as we dominated the last 30 minutes. It also got Brandy more into the game. Loads of half-chances were created and on a better day and with Grigg in the team we would have taken those.

Johnstone had a decent debut making a fine save in the first half as Hartlepool coped with the windy conditions better and twice narrowly missed scoring. His distribution could be better but it was very windy so I can let him off with that.

We scrapped and fought throughout an awful game. We needed some quality and only got that towards the end when Hemmings came on. As well as Hemmings’ miss, Bowerman, Paterson, Mantom and Brandy all squandered decent chances as we panicked in front of goal.

Roll on Yeovil.

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