By Albatross
December 7 2004

"Tis the season to be jolly..." What a shame that Hartlepool United are back on the road then - a situation that's been far from jolly this season! Walsall are our latest opponents - and their home form isn't bad at all. The signs aren't good, but we can't lose every away game forever - can we? I have to admit to having a soft spot for the Saddlers; born in the West Midlands, I lived in Willenhall for the first decade of my life until moving to the North-East; and with my Dad's side of the family having watched Walsall for many years it was actually at Fellows Park, sometime in the early 80s, that I first saw league football. Family bragging rights are at stake here, not just three points!

The fact that Walsall are widely regarded as underachieving this season says much about their recent history. They've gone from a decent (old) Division 3 side with occasional dips into Division 4, to a team that in the last five years has spent four seasons in Division 1 - admittedly struggling at the wrong end for the most part, but still a very creditable record for a club long regarded as a small team. Like Pools, they suffer from having bigger clubs surrounding them - Wolves, West Brom and a little further away the two Birmingham clubs for starters.

Paul Merson was untried as a manager, but with a nucleus of decent players still at the club a playoff challenge at least was expected - however things have not gone according to plan. Although by no means out of the playoff picture, the Saddlers have spent most of the season so far trying to avoid dropping in to the relegation places. Recent form shows something of a revival, but the two wins in their last league fixtures came against two of the strugglers in Peterborough and Stockport.

It's been something of a strange time this season, with results including a fine win over Luton, but also draws against MK Dons and Torquay, and defeats against Oldham, Orient (in the LDV last week) and most embarrassingly Slough Town in the FA Cup 1st round.

Home form though has been pretty good. Only Bristol City and Brentford have walked out of the Bescot with all the points, while draws against Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday have been the only other blemishes on their record. Not exactly the sort of game you want to come into with our away form.....

Merson is still playing regularly - he's hoping to be fit after missing out with a niggling calf injury last week - but while he's still capable of some extraordinary things, his influence on the side seems to be starting to wane. Certainly he's not the main goal threat, having netted just once this season. It's someone almost half Merse's age that's leading scorer - teenager Matty Fryatt has found the net seven times so far this season, although he's had to be content with a place on the bench for recent games. Jorge Leitao and Darren Wrack are the next best on the hotshots list, with five goals each.

As well as Merson, Walsall are hoping that Ian Roper will be fit for selection after he picked up an injury against Stockport ten days ago; assuming he's fit, he'll come straight into the side to replace the experienced Neil Emblen, who will be suspended after he piced up his fifth yellow of the season in the same game. Beyond that, there are unlikely to be too many changes as Merson tries to win three on the bounce to extend what's already the Saddlers longest winning run of the season!

As far as the team news for Pools is concerned, things seem to be pretty much as they were against Aldershot. Eifion Williams is still out, Darrell Clarke hasn't featured for the reserves yet, and Hugh Robertson may once again find that this is just a little too soon for his comeback - although he may hope for a spot on the bench. The questions for most Poolies will be whether Provett continues in goal, and what will happen with Michael Nelson - having missed out of the squad on Saturday apparently because of his state of mind, will he have sorted his head out enough to forget the transfer speculation and get on with playing? If Cooper does decide to recall Nelse, it looks more likely to be to the bench - after all, who do you drop after a 5-1 win?

Getting something out of this game looks to be a big ask at the moment. If our away form was better, you'd go into this thinking that a draw is possible and a win not out of the question - but we now seem to have a psychological barrier that hits us as we join the A19, and going to a side that's doing all right at home you can hardly call us favourites. On the other hand, the run has to end sometime and Pools should be on something of a high after demolishing Aldershot. So I'll go for a 1-1 draw, with Joel Porter to grab the goal for Pools.