Preview: Hartlepool United v Walsall

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By Albatross
August 19 2005

Hartlepool United face Walsall this weekend, and the big story is of course the return of Chris Westwood to Victoria Park. Will Westie be celebrating at the end of the game? Or will Pools make it a less than happy return?

Walsall travel to Pools if not on top of the world, at least on top of the division. Two wins and a draw so far - and seven goals scored - are enough to place them in pole position at this early stage.

A 2-1 away win at Rotherham on the opening day was eclipsed by one of the more eye-catching results of the season so far: against the relative big boys of Nottingham Forest, they came from behind to win 3-2 at the Bescot. One of the scorers that night - on his Saddlers debut - was a certain Chris Westwood..... The lustre came off things very slightly at the weekend though as Forest showed signs of being less of a force than some expected by losing at Swindon, while Walsall could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to Southend.

While the seven goals scored is promising - Leitao and Fryatt joint top scorers with two each so far - less impressive is their defensive record. Five goals against in three games is not what you could describe as tight, indicating that despite a slew of arrivals including Steve Staunton and Craig Pead as well as Westie they are still vulnerable at the back. Meanwhile Fryatt is attracting plenty of interest and speculation is growing that their best prospect in many years may even be the subject of a too good to turn down bid before the transfer window closes - their Chairman has already been quoted as saying that Forest had verbally made a bid for him that fell some way short of his valuation. Nevertheless Saddlers fans seem to be preparing for the worst and expect him to leave, quite possibly by the end of the month.

Merson got plenty of plaudits for one or two brave decisions against Forest, but the performance against Southend highlighted that they don't always come off - Simon Osborne was "rested" (after two games!) last weekend despite a couple of impressive performances, while the fact that four of their five goals conceded have come from headers has shown that they are looking a little vulnerable on crosses (take note Tommy Butler and Jon Daly!)

Our opponents don't seem to have any particular injury worries at the moment, while for Pools the good news is that Robertson, Porter and Tinkler are all on the way back after taking part in a behind closed doors game with Sunderland: none of them though are in contention for this weekend's game.

The main decision for Martin Scott will be concerning his forward line. The Daly-Proctor partnership has shown promise over the last two games, but will Scott be tempted to bring back in Adam Boyd - or even Chris Llewellyn? Proctor did OK against Doncaster, and I'd be surprised if he was left out - and while Boyd did a decent job of holding the ball up and helping run the clock down when he came on, it would be hard to say he did enough to demand a return to the first team. Meanwhile Daly seems to be thriving and with our opponents apparently struggling to defend the ball in the air looks a certainty to be in the starting lineup.

Walsall are travelling to Pools with plenty of confidence, with their fans not necessarily thinking too much of our chances. That may be in part due to our performances against them last season: we lost both games, and in the home fixture surrendered fairly meekly in what proved to be Neale Cooper's last game in charge of the side. A much better performance will be expected by Pools fans this time round.

So can Pools overcome the current leaders? If our defence can shackle Fryatt then there's every chance - we look to have the players to do some damage at the other end against a defence that has looked decidedly porous. I'll go for a 2-1 win, Bullock and Daly to get on the scoresheet.