D 0-0 vs Northampton Town (A) - League Two - Sat 4th Feb, 3pm

Match Centre Archive Match Centre 22/23
1

Into February and our first game of this very busy month sees us travel down to The Cobblers in a game that might show a lot of us just where we could be come the end of the season.

Our hosts are again pushing for promotion out of the division, having lost in the play-offs last season. They currently sit 4th in League Two, 2 points away from the automatic places, but with a game in hand on 3rd placed Carlisle United.

With it being the first game after the January Transfer Window, let’s take a look at the players manager Jon Brady has added to his squad:

First up, goalkeeper Tom King joined in mid-January on loan from divisional rivals Salford City. and he will be known by Michael Flynn as he managed him during his time at Newport County. Perhaps we will see him in WS1 next season?

Tom King
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Next up, midfielder Will Hondermarck joined on 26th January for an undisclosed fee from League One side Barnsley. He has signed a two and a half year deal with the club. He joins having made 9 appearances in the Championship last season, and a further 7 in League One this season.

Deadline Day itself saw two arrivals - Tete Yengi and D’Margio Wright-Phillips.

Yengi is a 6ft 5in striker who has just just completed a very successful spell on loan with Finnish top-flight club Vaasan Palloseura where he scored seven times and contributed eleven assists in 27 games and was named the club’s player of the season.

Wright-Phillips joins on loan from Stoke City and is an exciting winger who has made a promising start to his career with The Potters in the Championship this season, and has been sent on loan to get more football under his belt. D’Margio is the son of Shaun Wright-Phillips and the grandson of Ian Wright - how old does that make you feel?!

D'Margio
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Northampton Town’s last six fixtures have produced the following results:

26th Dec - Mansfield Town (A) - Drew 1-1
29th Dec - Swindon Town (H) - Lost 2-1
2nd Jan - Leyton Orient (H) - Won 1-0
7th Jan - Salford City (A) - Lost 2-1
14th Jan - Stockport County (A) - Lost 2-0
28th Jan - Barrow (A) - Won 2-0

Moving onto The Saddlers now, and following our FA Cup exit at the hands of Leicester City on Saturday, we followed that up with a midweek loss at Salford City in a game that wasn’t really for the football purists out there. It is now up to Micky Flynn to get the players pumped up and back on track to maintain what could be a play-off push in the second half of this season.

For us, Transfer Deadline Day has always been a time of fear as we usually sell our best player for a Twix and a bag of Frazzles, but for a change that didn’t happen. Yes, we lost one of our better players with Danny Johnson not returning to the club following his loan, but not through the want of trying, but we have now added Matty Stevens on loan from Forest Green Rovers, who If he can hit the ground running following an ACL injury, could form a potent strike force with his old FGR strike partner, Jamille Matt, who we have also signed and debuted last night. Between the two of them, they got 42 goals in League Two last season, and both made the Team of The Year.

Matty Stevens
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Leaving the club was Brendan Kiernan who leaves the club to join Hartlepool United. BK gave us all a super evening away at Port Vale last season, and he leaves with the well wishes of many Walsall supporters.

Squad selection for the game will be interesting, who would you choose? For me personally, having been at Salford, I think Joe Low will be taken back out of the XI as he didn’t have a great showing yesterday, and Robbie WIllmott may make way too. This would mean Hayden White slotting back in at CB, and Tom Knowles going back to RWB. Jamille Matt is certain to start I would have thought, perhaps with Wilkinson, with Stevens coming on from the bench. One thing is for certain, the Northampton pitch has to be better than the atrocity we played on at Salford, so the team we pick should be more suited to a game of proper football.

The lads will be back by around 1,000 Saddlers which is a great showing once again, especially considering how many games we have this month, and hopefully the lads can respond with three points to move us further back up the table.

Let us know how you see this one panning on.

COME ON YOU REDS

Walsall FC Black Country
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Northampton Town vs Walsall - Match Result
  • Northampton Town Win
  • Draw
  • Walsall Win

0 voters

2

A draw is the best we can hope for in my view because we have a number of new players to settle into the team.Also the Manager must get the selection right.White should return to being a right sided Centre back with Knowles and Gordon being the wing backs. We then have a week off before starting the 2 games a week sequence which I think will be important as we try and put pressure on the teams above us.1-1 is my prediction.

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3

Think the salford game will be the kick up the arse the players need and flynn will expect a much better performance.
2-1 to the saddlers a goal each from the Matt attack

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4

Feel that the wing backs will be crucial to feed the Matt attack - and that Wilmott needs to feature - starting or from the bench.

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5

Would love us to get something from this game, but even with us signing the best strike partnership in league 2, i think it will take time for them to get up to speed
And after the Salford game performance maybe i am being a bit pessimistic?

6

Probably. The Salford game, so soon after the Leicester game, won’t happen again soon.

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7

We weren’t the only ones to make decent signings, and the Cobblers will be determined to get 3 points to keep in the chase for the 3rd auto-promotion spot.
We were lucky to beat them at home, and I think a point would be a decent result.
Our defence better be awake from the whistle though… you can bet Northampton have took notes from the Salford game.

8

As well as Matt and Matty, still technically our player Peter Clarke is another in last season’s PFA L2 TotY - as were Liam Roberts, Kane Wilson and Jon Guthrie. Now does that mean that the selectors are off their heads or the various people on here according to whom they were all crap and stealing a living as professional footballers? :thinking:

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9

Hoping for a point here, but fearing a third 0-1 defeat unless we are at our very best. Hutchinson starting is a must for me, can’t see any real creativity beyond him.

2 Likes
10

I agree that Hutchinson should start and expect him to. It’s been a while since we were so uncertain of what team will start the game. We can say that, barring injury, we will have Evans, White, Daniels, Monthe, Gordon and Matt in the side. But, beyond that, I am not sure. Knowles will probably play somewhere (but I wish he would stop diving).

Key questions: RWB? White, Willmott or Knowles? Too soon for Riley of course.
Defensive midfield: Songo, Comley, or both?
Up front: Wilkinson, Stephens, Williams, DJT?
Other midfield: Maddox, Hutchinson? Both? Suddenly, without Kinsella, we seem light in midfield.

11

Just please don’t play the same team as Tuesday
There were to many players not match fit
Can’t afford to play wilko Matt and songo who all looked leggy

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12

865 tickets sold so far, I expected more.

13

I suspect Wilko and Stephens will be one half each players for the next few weeks. Actually, I thought Wilkinson looked a bit sharper - it’s easy to remember him as better than he was.

I think I would play Comley ahead of Songo. My team:

Evans
White Daniels Monthe
Comley
Knowles Maddox Hutchinson Gordon
Matt Wilkinson

2 Likes
14

Unlikely to be any available on the day too so if people want then get them bought

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15

They have room for 500 more so why not sell them on the day, some real bizarre decisions at times.

16

As long as the team selection isn’t as bad as Tuesday’s debacle, we could hold our own, but think they will be just that tad too strong for us 0-1, after all, until recently they were in the automatic promotion places, no one gets there by being beaten at home by mid table teams very often.

17

Agreed. They’ve just advised they can be bought on the day by card only with a £2 increase

1 Like
18

I think that’s probably the team I’d start with.

Having said that, if we continue to play the percentage game and launch it up field at every opportunity, I’d be tempted to start with Williams alongside Matt to try and hold onto the ball higher up the pitch.

Of course, one thing none of us can be sure of is Stevens’ level of fitness. Yes, he’s recovering from an ACL and hasn’t got too many match minutes in the legs but it would be wrong to use Wilkinson as a yardstick to judge him.

No two players are alike and none of us are aware of how smoothly each of their paths to recovery have gone. Also, Stevens is younger.

Obviously, Flynn has the advantage of seeing him in training for a few days and barring any major concerns, It would not surprise me in the slightest to see him start. Stevens knows Matt’s game already and the sooner we get match minutes into him, the better.

One things for sure; whoever plays up front, we’ve got to find a way to service them better!

2 Likes
19

2-0 to the Super Saddlers, a great opportunity to bounce back from the disappointment at Salford and sure Micky Flynn will have them straining at the leash to put things right.

Looks like an extremely healthy gate travelling to this one, not quite four figures but I understand we’ve almost hit the 900 mark. Loud and proud boys and girls (and gender neutrals).

2 Likes
20

I think we definitely need new wing backs next year
We haven’t got a proper rwb and imo Gordon is a poor player and Allen is about the same
We need them to supplement the attack a lot more and provide for the strikers
Look how many assists Leahy got from lb , what fox used to offer , what Rico offered. If we are going to play wing backs and get promoted we need the best the league can offer as it’s so vital