Walsall blogger Mark Jones is enjoying following the team of the moment in the West Midlands ahead of the trip to Scunthorpe.

Another week, another 2-0 win, another solid performance, three more points – and apparently it’s a bad time to support a team in the West Midlands!

Week by week there are more positives coming out of the Chris Hutchings and Martin O’Connor era. It was a third straight clean sheet, there was plenty of effort, we are trying to pass the ball whenever possible and everyone seems to be pulling together.

Troy Deeney notched yet again, Alex Nicholls scored with a quality header from Sofiene Zaaboub’s cross and Manny Smith put in his best performance for the first team. Just for good measure, we played out the last quarter of the match with striker Michael Ricketts at centre half.

Before we get too carried away, it should be remembered that Yeovil were weaker than an Aston Villa UEFA Cup team. We all know that clubs who employ big useless former centre halves as managers never deserve to get anywhere.

Chris Hutchings is, quite rightly, using the play-offs to motivate the boys but most fans have different expectations and most are just glad we’ve appeared to have stopped the rot.

By my reckoning we need two more wins and one draw – just in case – from the last 13 games for safety. Realistically though we could and should be looking at top 10, even allowing for the manic schedule between now and when the Easter eggs get chomped, then we can start thinking about 2009/10.

With next season in mind, it was interesting to see the details of the Early Bird season ticket offer. Generally it’s a good deal, we’ve even got the benefits of the VAT reduction, so it’s rewarding that the fans who’ve stuck it out through the dismal parts of this season won’t have to pay extra next year.

I had wondered if the club would follow the Bradford-Huddersfield-Port Vale model of slashing prices in an attempt to get in more fans, but the recent upturn in fortunes on the pitch has probably staved off this option.

As always there are a few little niggles. I talked after the Leeds game about the need to think about how to maximise atmosphere in certain parts the ground, yet there doesn’t seen to be any kind of positive price discrimination in place to allow this to happen.

I can buy a family ticket in any home section of the ground except the lower tier of the GA, but I have no idea why this is the case.

Equally mystifying is why me and my son have received exactly the same mailshot sent separately to the same address? At a time when the club needs to work harder to get every fan through the door, a little bit of careful organisation wouldn’t go amiss.

But putting these small criticisms aside, the club deserve praise for not putting up the prices and the current players and management deserve to have as many Saddlers backing them as possible.

In closing, of more immediate concern than missing fans is missing centre halves, I’m polishing me boots for Scunthorpe just in case.

Come on you Saddlers.