This weekend Rovers entertain a Walsall team who have taken League One by surprise.

After 7 League games this season the Saddlers were bottom of the table, with just 1 win and 5 points. Since then they are unbeaten in the League and now have 41 points from 26 games. That run has seen them accumulate 36 points from 19 games, promotion form by anyone's standards.

Rovers themselves are on something of a mini-revival and should be encouraged by the Midlanders change in fortunes. The postponement of the Fulham game, whilst disappointing, should at least have left Paul Trollope with a squad raring to go.

Saddler's Coach Richard Money (or Dicky Dosh as he is affectionately known by Saddler's fans), in the wake of the FA Cup defeat by Millwall in mid-week, has hinted that he may strengthen his Walsall squad further during this month's transfer window.

Money has added to the Saddlers midfield options since the window opened by bringing in Lee Holmes on loan from Derby County plus free agent Martin Brittain, but there may be more new faces arriving.

The injuries to Tommy Mooney and Michael Ricketts means the manager is short on experience up front, with Alex Nicholls at just 20 being his oldest fit striker. Money has been very impressed with the efforts of his young guns, but admits they may need assistance.

"Maybe at the minute we have one or two young players too many," he said. "At times in big games you're relying on people being in the right place at the right time, but they're brave and they're learning and they showed a lot of quality against Millwall.

"One of the things that you've got to gain from defeat is that you've got to use the knowledge from that and make sure you make the right decisions. So I think we do need a little bit of help."

Money may again look to the loan market, after borrowing the likes of Ricketts and Peter Sweeney to good effect this season. However, much may depend upon the impending transfer of Danny Fox with regards available funds.

"We've accepted a bid from Colchester United and given Danny permission to talk to them," added Money. "Those talks were going to happen on Monday and Tuesday and obviously with the Millwall match to prepare for I haven't really taken too much interest outside that."

Looking back at the foundations of this week's opposition Walsall was formed in 1888 when Walsall Town and Walsall Swifts amalgamated. They were first admitted to the Football League in 1892, as founder members of the new Second Division.

Walsall's only domestic trophy was the Second Division Championship which they won in thrilling fashion on the last day of last season courtesy of Rovers victory at Hartlepool. They are renowned as giant-killers in cup competitions. Their finest hour came in January 1933 when they beat the great Arsenal side of that era in the FA Cup. In more recent years the club came within minutes of reaching Wembley Stadium, losing 4-2 on aggregate to the mighty Liverpool in 1984. This run involved another famous victory over Arsenal, this time at Highbury, and culminated with a spirited 2-2 draw at Anfield, before they lost 2-0 in the second leg.

The true Golden Age of the Club lies in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Under the management of Bill Moore, the club rocketed from the lower reaches of the bottom of the league ladder to the mid-table of the Second Division in the space of three seasons. Club legends such as Bill 'Chopper' Guttridge, Tony Richards and Colin Taylor were intrinsically important to the success of the side.

The club has always had a rich history of producing players who go on to play at the top level. Allan Clarke went on to win the League Championship under Don Revie at Leeds United after beginning life at Fellows Park. Bert Williams and Phil Parkes both became England Goalkeepers in the years after they progressed from their roots in Walsall.

David Kelly had a long career at the top level after leaving Walsall in 1988, representing the Republic of Ireland at the very highest level of international football. More recently, Michael Ricketts represented England after blossoming at Bolton Wanderers. In recent years, Matty Fryatt and Ishmel Demontagnac have both represented England age-groups.

The late 1980s was a period of considerable activity for Walsall FC. In addition to runs in the League Cup and the FA Cup, they were bought by millionaire entrepreneur and race-horse owner Terry Ramsden in 1986. With his money came high profile signings and the attention of the national media. Walsall earned promotion through the old Division Three play-offs in 1988, but the sale of the inspirational David Kelly was followed by a disastrous two years where two managers came and went and Ramsden's business empire collapsed.

After being saved from extinction by local businessman Barrie Blower in 1989, the club moved to Bescot Stadium in 1990. At the time it was a state-of-the-art arena, and was only the second new Football League Ground since the 1950s. A Morrison's supermarket was built on the site of the old Fellows Park ground. Since then the Saddlers have gained four promotions and suffered three relegations!

In total the two clubs have met 88 times, with the Gas having won 36 games, the Saddlers 33 and just 19 draws. So, lots of games and a very close record, with Rovers just shading it. During that time there has been some remarkable sequences of games. For example between 27th March 1965 and 29th October 1973, Rovers paid 14 visits to Fellows Park and won just once! Stuart Taylor and Ray Graydon secured a 2-1 win on 24th April 1971.

During that same spell Rovers suffered an amazing reverse when they were leading by 2 goals with 15 minutes to go on 19th March 1973. A bomb scare caused the game to be halted. Then in the remaining 15 minutes Walsall scored 3 times to win the game 4-3!

Rovers' longest unbeaten streak was at Eastville between 4th September 1948 and 2nd November 1963, a total of 7 games with 4 Rovers wins and 3 draws. The game that broke that sequence was on16th March 1965. Walsall won 1-0 and the newspaper report of the goal revealed that "Harassed by lanky Alan Clarke, Rovers keeper Bernard Hall lost possession after being lured yards from his goal. The ball rolled to Jimmy McMorran who chipped it back into an empty net from 25 yards".

Rovers gained their revenge just over 6 months later. Manager Bert Tann had complained that the team weren't taking their chances, but in this game they made 4 and scored 3. Walsall winger Colin Taylor had Doug Hillard on the rack for most of the game but stand-in Centre Forward Trevor Meath was wasteful with the three chances that came his way. Bobby Jones in the 35th and 77th minutes and Harold Jarman with an 85th minute header were Rovers' scorers on the day to give the Gas a 3-0 victory.

Looking further through the sequence of home games it is noticeable that when Walsall win on Rovers' territory they tend to do so twice! Of their last 10 wins (going back to 1967), four of them have come in pairs. The two teams last met last season, with a 2-1 victory to the Saddlers at the Mem and a battling 2-2 draw at Walsall at the end of the year.

Talking after the FA Cup defeat at Millwall Richard Money said he was pleased with the performance of his players and could not fault them for both effort and endeavour.

"I thought it was a proper old-fashioned FA Cup third-round replay," Money said. "In my day it used to be an FA Cup third-round fifth replay or something like that, but I thought it was a good game on a difficult evening and I couldn't ask any more from my players.

"Over the two games, we've thrown everything bar the kitchen sink at them and haven't been able to get through. I thought we had a great response after both goals. I thought we were the better team in the first half. I thought we missed a number of decent chances, some of which were half chances, in the first half.

"They had a good spell for ten minutes after half-time and went two in front, but from then until the finish there was only one team trying to score. It's very tough to play any team from the same division four times and not lose to them.

"We had won both League games and they came to the Banks' and were very tough and resilient, as they were tonight, and at times Millwall played some good football."

The manager is targeting a positive response from the players in what he expects to be testing circumstances after finally losing the unbeaten run, which stretched back to September.

"It's our first defeat in 19," he said. "We've forgotten what it's like to lose and it's not very nice. We've got to pick ourselves up and respond in the right way at Bristol Rovers on Saturday, which won't be easy either. It will probably be our worst pitch.
That's three games in a row now that we've played in really tough conditions and a really heavy pitch in heavy rain and wind and it takes it out of the players.

Money dismissed suggestions that the loss of Ricketts and Mooney played a part in the defeat. "Every club misses its best players when they're out - it's the nature of the game, but you've got to be able to cope," he said. "I don't worry about Ricketts and Mooney not playing tonight because there's nothing I could do about it.

"I think we did everything that we could - we just couldn't find the right pass or the right bit of quality at the right time to get the second goal. And fair play to Millwall - they defended extremely well. In the first game they defended extremely well and then for the last 30 minutes here, but they know they've been in a test."

If Rovers can show the same determination they have in recent games then there is no reason that they too shouldn't be able to end the Saddlers' impressive undefeated League run.

Written by Gerry Prewett