Earlier this week Darren Wrack talked about a points target for the rest of the season, writes Walsall blogger Mark Jones.
Hopefully people will listen to him because if anyone in the current squad should know about how to finish a season it’s Wracky.
(OK there’s Ian Roper too but I always remember the Ray Graydon story about Ropes suffering from concussion at Lincoln in April 99 after he’d put his head where it hurts yet again.
(Asked what day it was, young Ian replied ‘Thursday’; ‘so we knew he was ok’ joked Sir Ray.)
Wracky has been part of three promotion winning teams in his decade as a Saddler.
Add them to Chris Nicholls’ team of 1995 and you’ll notice that we’ve been pretty successful in recent campaigns.
In fact it’s been quite some years since a Walsall team has been in the position we’re in right now and not achieved glory the following May. (We did it loads in the 80’s but that’s another story.)
By my reckoning 75 points is the target to aim for this season.
That amount usually gets you into a secure fourth or fifth place at least and gives a bit of margin for error.
Looking at our last five fixtures-Cheltenham (wouldn’t it be good to beat a team built by the obnoxious John Ward?), Brizle Rovers (with other distractions who knows?), Bournemouth (overdue a beating at Bescot), Uddersfield (who hammered the final nail in two years ago) and our old mates Hartlepool- there are points galore to be won.
So on count back, if we’re on 62 or 63 points going into those games we should still be in contention. Which therefore means we should be looking to pick up 13 or 14 points out of the next 9 games.
To achieve this feat, this season’s trend of being slightly stronger away than at home probably needs to be reversed.
Northampton are improving and Tranmere could be a big six-pointer but those games and the Brighton home match are winnable.
And of course helping Crewe on their way to their rightful place in the fourth division would be hilarious.
The away trips look more daunting though, so the phrase ‘take a point’ might be uttered a few times up and down the motorways in the next two months and we might have to accept the odd setback or two on the way.
Can it be done? Am I being hopelessly optimistic?
Well the appointment of Chris Coleman at Walsall Old Boys FC (the funniest of the week up until yesterday) should mean we can hang on to the talents of Dicky Dosh for now.
If the boys continue with the attitude, character and commitment they’ve shown us so far they’ll not be too far away.
And while I don’t want to bang on about it, bringing in another striker wouldn’t do us any harm either.
Of course there is the possibility that we could replicate the disasters of 04 and 06 over the next 10 matches and then our target will be getting past 50 points and survival, just like it was in the beginning.
This blog will then look a bit silly but what do I care? I’ve always enjoyed chasing the dream.
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