By Albatross
December 16 2005

Hartlepool United travel to the Midlands to take on Walsall, current club of Chris Westwood. The Saddlers have a good home record - but Pools will be hoping to take something out of the game. Despite all the pre-season optimism from Saddlers fans, they currently sit in mid-table and, in 15th place, are actually three places and two points behind Pools at the moment. It seems to be a far from happy ship down at the Bescot, with the fans divided on Paul Merson's managerial talents. At home though they remain a force to be reckoned with.

Their home record is one of the better ones in the division, and it's been six games since their last home defeat (seven if you include their FA Cup win over Yeovil). Their away form has been what's let them down. Part of the problem is the defence: 31 goals have been scored past them this season and even at home they've conceded 14 in 10 games. Fortunately for them, Matty Fryatt is continuing to find the net on a regular basis and is their leading scorer by some distance on 13 in all competitions. George Leitao is next best with 6, but after that there's been a distinct lack of support in terms of goals from the midfield; no-one else has got more than two this season.

Suspension and injury aren't helping the Saddlers in the lead up to this game either. Leitao is suspended and apparently injured as well; while youngster Ishmel Demontagnac, who has scored twice from his spot on the left wing after breaking into the team, is also suspended after being sent off at Nottingham Forest last weekend. Merson had been talking about playing himself either up front or on the left, but he is apparently doubtful after feeling his achilles tendon tighten up in training. It's possible that Kris Taylor will play on the wing after playing for Walsall's reserves there in midweek, while James Constable could make his first start for the club up front after arriving from Chippenham last month. There are other injury doubts too, with Michael Standing and a certain Chris Westwood - both out injured - closing in on fitness and a return to action; the game comes too soon for Mark Wright though, and Darren Wrack is still on the sidelines after breaking his shin.

Westie doesn't seem to be a fans favourite at Walsall, with a general feeling there that he's underperformed. Being shunted out to right back for a spell didn't help matters - but all is not rosy for Chris back in the Midlands. You never know, maybe he'll come back to Pools in January when the window opens! There have been one or two speculative rumours about that by the way, but nothing particularly concrete. Should he play though, it's highly likely that he'll show precisely why Pools wanted him to stay, former players usually do.

Pools meanwhile know that they need to start putting a run of form together to get the fans back onside and climb the table. The win last weekend was a decent start, but it needs to continue in the same vein; given that our away form has been better than our home form this season we can at least travel with some hope. It will be the last chance to see Dean McDonald before he returns to Ipswich, and in fact I don't expect many - if any - changes to the starting eleven. We're still waiting to see if Thomas Butler and Eifion Williams will be fit - if Butler is, he may well come in for Istead, but other than that I don't expect Scott to change a winning formula unless he has to.

Can Pools win this game? That probably depends on how well we can handle Fryatt, and keeping him quiet is easier said than done. In the corresponding fixture last season, Pools were in charge in the first half but Fryatt's introduction at the break changed the game; his goal record speaks for itself. If we can keep him out then we have a chance: the Walsall defence has looked porous this season, and if we can perform as well as we did in the first half against Bournemouth then we should be able to grab at least one goal. I think it's more realistic to expect a draw though - 1-1, with McDonald to score again and make us wish he was staying all the more.