Next Game – Walsall (away)

Last updated : 09 April 2004 By Tony Scholes

Simon Osborn
Walsall are now four points clear of us having had a run of form recently without which they really could have been facing the drop.

We beat them at the Turf courtesy of a Delroy Facey hat-trick and left them in 19th place in the league as we sat in 8th position. "It will be a miracle if we finish as high as that," said Stan and a 6-1 defeat at Ipswich three days later saw us begin the slide down the table. We didn’t win again after that Walsall game until late November.

Without setting the world on fire Walsall hardly looked to be in any trouble after a decent enough run and by Christmas they were pushing close to the top half of the table.

They beat Cardiff on Boxing Day but then picked up just four points from the next ten fixtures and only Derby, BRBC and Franchise kept them out of the bottom four.

But as things were beginning to look bleak for the Saddlers they have suddenly hit some form and are currently having their best run for some time with just one defeat and eleven points from their last six games.

Manager Colin Lee was able to bring four new players in last month and alongside the return of Paul Merson from his ‘addictive clinic’ it has given them the boost they needed and leaves them, according to the manager, just one win from safety.

The first of the four to arrive was Dubliner Keith Andrews on a loan deal from Wolves. He’s been in good form in midfield for them and even scored two goals which has trebled his career goalscoring record.

If there is to be any omen here, playing against Andrews, he played against us for Stoke during a similar loan period earlier in the season. We won to record successive away victories that day and with our last away fixture having been won at Bradford who knows.

Then came two permanent signings and there was certainly some mystery about the first of the two. Craig Burley, having been released by Dundee, joined the Weary Whinger at Deepdale on a month long deal.

WW was keen to sign him on a longer deal but he declined the offer because he wanted to move back to Scotland – days later he signed for Walsall. Now either his geography is not all it could be or he too was sick and tired of the whinger.

Lee Bradbury was next to arrive from Portsmouth on transfer deadline day and in a surprise loan move he was joined by Wycombe's Jamie McSporran although the Mancunian is yet to start a game for them.

Of all their recent wins last week’s was the most vital, coming against relegation rivals Derby, but it came amidst a whole load of controversy that had fingers pointing at referee Mike Jones who admitted to Derby boss George Burley that he had made a terrible mistake.

He prevented Derby from taking the lead by bringing the game back as they were about to score to give them a free kick on the half way line (that was the terrible mistake he admitted to) and then gave a penalty that should have been a free kick the other way with only four minutes to go from which Lee Bradbury scored the only goal of the game.

Usually the recipients of awful decisions claim not to have seen them but Colin Lee was honest enough after the game. "We had some good fortune but there have been many crucial decisions go against us this season, so it was nice to have something go in our favour for a change. I would be disappointed if I was in their camp"

Walsall lined up at Derby: James Walker, Zigor Aranalde, Ian Roper, Darren Bazeley, Simon Osborn, Neil Emblen, Craig Burley, Keith Andrews, Lee Bradbury, Jorge Leitao (Jermaine McSporran 69), Paul Merson (Mark Wright 90). Subs not used: Andy Petterson, Kris Taylor, Matt Carbon.

The Clarets will be looking for a first win at the Bescot since March 1997 when two Andy Cooke goals and one from Paul Barnes secured a 3-1 win after a superb Paul Weller inspired performance.

Click HERE to see Walsall’s results this season.

Past Results in the last 20 years

Season

Div

Ven

Result

Att

Scorers

a

1983/84

3

a

1-1

8,131

Hamilton

h

0-2

3,948

1984/85

3

h

1-2

3,350

Hird

a

3-2

8,396

A Taylor(2) Hird

1990/91

4

a

0-1

5,710

h

2-0

7,883

Eli Grewcock

1991/92

4

h

2-0

7,289

Davis(pen) Lancashire

a

2-2

5,287

Eli Conroy

1995/96

2

h

1-1

8,778

Joyce

FAC

h

1-3

6,525

Eyres

2

a

1-3

3,411

Nogan

1996/97

2

h

2-1

10,322

Eyres Nogan

FAC

a

1-1

5,031

Eyres

FAC

h

1-1

5,799

Barnes (aet won 4-2 on pens)

2

a

3-1

6,306

Cooke(2) Barnes

1997/98

2

h

2-1

9,293

Barnes Cooke

a

0-0

5,212

1998/99

2

a

1-3

4,599

Armstrong

h

0-0

10,892

2001/02

1

h

5-2

14,019

Taylor I Moore Briscoe(2) Cook

a

0-1

5,611

2002/03

1

h

2-1

12,907

Blake Davis

a

2-3

6,327

Blake(pen) Little

2003/04

1

h

3-1

10,532

Facey(3)

Click HERE to see more results against Walsall.