The first (of hopefully many) cup games of the season, as Walsall travel an hour north, up the M6 to the Bet365 Stadium to face Stoke City, for the 1st round of the League Cup.
The Opposition
A month into the beginning of last season, manager Steven Schumacher was sacked with Stoke sitting mid-table. His replacement, Narcis Pelach, lasted until December with Stoke flirting with the relegation places. Mark Robins 
was then appointed on 1st January 2025. The rest of the season was spent around 18th-19th place with Robins managing to scramble enough points to keep Stoke from being relegated. They only avoided it by 1 point, mainly due to other teams being a lot poorer, rather than Robins management ability.
Of course the appointment of Robins was to have an impact on our season as he decided to recall Nathan Lowe only to use him sparingly with most of his time spent playing for the U21’s and not in the first team squad.
Players to look out for include loan signings Divin Mubama (forward from Man City), Jamie Donley (midfielder from Tottenham) and Ashley Phillips (defender from Tottenham). Also Stokes own players Lewis Baker (midfielder), Sorba Thomas (midfielder) and Million Manhoef (forward).
Their pre-season friendlies saw 2 wins (Crewe and Burnley), 1 draw (Dingles) and 2 losses (Brighton & Shrewsbury). They will be looking for a much improved campaign this season.
The Proposition
The Saddlers look to get back to winning ways after a turgid performance in a 0-1 League defeat away at Gillingham. The dreaded hoofball that plagued much of the 2nd half of last season made a return. You get the feeling that Walsall will need to get back to playing on the deck to unlock the Stoke defence.
In contrast Stoke sit 2nd in the Championship (although it is after 1 game) following an opening day 3-1 home victory over Derby County. From being 0-1 down after 60 minutes, Stoke then equalised in the 70th minute followed by 2 injury time goals (95th & 99th minute). Sorba Thomas being Stokes standout player with an assist for the 1st goal and then scoring the 3rd.
Can the Saddlers claim another higher division scalp against the odds?
The First Time
The first meeting between the sides, was in Division Three (North) on the 4th September 1926, which resulted in a 0-1 home loss for Walsall.
The Worst Time
On the 7th February 2001, Walsall lost away at Stoke 4-0 in the LDV Vans Trophy (EFL Trophy).
The Last Time
The Saddlers have not played Stoke competitively for over a decade with the last game being a 3-1 away loss in the League Cup on 28th August 2013… Doesn’t bode well for this game.
Played For Both
There could only be one….
Nathan Lowe joined the Stoke City Academy in 2016…… NO NO NO, I can’t be reminded of last season, sorry Nath…… bloody Mark Robins …
Let’s go with a player who was here when we actually got promoted from this division….
Kyle Lightbourne was born in Hamilton, Bermuda and played for PHC Zebras before moving to England to play for Scarborough at the age of 23. He played 21 times for Scarborough before joining Walsall in September 1993. Lightbourne soon struck up a partnership with Kevin Wilson and the pair became prolific goalscorers and earned Walsall some success. He scored 9 goals in 41 appearances in 1993–94 before scoring 27 goals in 1994–95 as Walsall gained promotion. He scored 24 goals in 1995–96 and 25 in 1996–97.
This earned him a lucrative move to Premier League side Coventry City for a fee of £500,000. However his chances at Highfield Road were limited and after making only 7 appearances plus a loan spell at Fulham he moved to Stoke City in February 1998. He didn’t get off to the best of starts with Stoke as he struggled with illness and form as Stoke suffered relegation from the First Division in 1997–98. He improved in 1998–99, netting eight goals. In 1999–2000, Lightbourne scored 10 goals in 52 appearances as Stoke reached the play-offs where they lost to Gillingham. He played in the 2000 Football League Trophy Final at Wembley as Stoke beat Bristol City 2–1. In 2000–01 he found his chances of first team football more restricted but still managed 5 goals in 28 appearances. In the latter part of the season he spent spells on loan at Swindon Town and Cardiff City.
He was released by Stoke in the summer of 2001 and after a brief unsuccessful spell in Sweden with IFK Norrköping he played two seasons with Macclesfield Town and had a short loan spell at Hull City before returning to Bermuda.
In 2007, Lightbourne joined Shaun Goater as part of the management team of USL side Bermuda Hogges, making 12 appearances for the team. He officially retired from football in 2009.
Lightbourne made his debut for Bermuda in 1989 and represented his country in 11 FIFA World Cup qualification matches.
His final international match was a June 2004 World Cup qualification match against El Salvador.
Lightbourne was coach at PHC Zebras before resigning in summer 2011. In June 2012, Lightbourne was named manager of local side Robin Hood. He missed out on a place at the Walsall bench in 2013. Lightbourne became manager of the Bermuda national team on 8 September 2017 replacing Andrew Bascome.
Lightbourne was a member of the ICC Associates squad at the inaugural 1988 Youth Cricket World Cup. He played five games for Bermuda at the 1990 ICC Trophy, during which he took 11 wickets at an average of 16.81. He was part of a Bermuda side that played the touring Australians in 1991.
Also:
Julien Ngoy, Tommy Simkin, Nathan Lowe, David Okagbue (Stoke youth), Douglas James Taylor (Stoke youth), Florent Cuvelier, Theo Vassell (Stoke youth), Romaine Sawyers, Aden Flint, Stephen Ward, Bill Moore (Walsall manager played for Stoke), Gavin Ward, Mark Prudhoe, Amos Baddeley, Keith Bertschin, Dennis Wilshaw, Jimmy Robertson, Carl Saunders…
I may have missed someone. Comment below if you know anyone else.. 
Lump On
Our record against teams from the divisions above us was fairly good last season with several scalps (Exeter, Huddersfield, Birmingham, Bolton, Shrewsbury, Reading).
Lump Off
Our overall record against Stoke (W8/D5/L13) favours them. The last 5 meetings being 4 losses and a draw. We haven’t beat them in over 20 years when we got our 2 best results against them with a 4-2 home win in the League Division 2 Play-off Semi-Final 2nd leg on 16th May 2001 and another 4-2 home win in League Division 1 on 2nd November 2002.
Goal Tally (sponsored by Owly McOwlface)
Evan Weir 1
Connor Barrett 1
UTS Match Poll
- Walsall Win
- Draw
- Stoke Win
