Columnist Sam Wright previews this weekends npower League One tie with bottom of the league Hartlepool United;
There are two ways of looking at Walsall’s form coming into this
game. If you, like me, are feeling like being optimistic and looking on the
bright side of life we can say we are unbeaten in two, having played two promotion
chasing sides.
Then again there is the way of looking at it that we still
haven’t won one in nearly two months. Whichever way you choose to look at the
form, there is no way getting around the fact that this is a must win game. We
can hope that new loan signing Craig Westcarr will be the boost we need to get
back to winning ways.
So Hartlepool, you just have to look at the league table to
see why this shouldn’t be a game we can’t win. The ‘Monkey Hangers’ are already
10 points off safety, without a win or a clean sheet in 16, only won one this
season, and their top scorer is on 2 goals, the same amount as Andy Butler.
If
that hasn’t made you feel confident the 7 goals they’ve shipped in the last 2
games should do, simply a must win for us if we are to avoid being ‘down there’
again all season.
In games in the past us and Hartlepool have been very evenly
matched. The Saddlers have won 18, lost 17 and drew 17 against them, and 2 of
those draws came last season.
However for a nice trip down memory lane you may
want to remember the clash the season previous to last at the Banks’s Stadium,
when we turned around a 2-0 second half defect to win 5-2, in a win inspired by
the class of Emmy Ledesma when he came on. A repeat of this with maybe Baxendale
or Flo would do nicely.
Prediction: Walsall 3 Hartlepool United 1
By: Sam Wright