Walsall blogger Mark Jones turns mathematician to deduct what the Saddlers will get from prospective point hauls between now and the end of the season.

Just 10 games left, 30 points available. So like in limited overs cricket, here’s the projected figures: -

Take 5-9 points = survival – which was kind of the minimum expectation back in August.

Take 10-15 points = a mid-table finish – which wasn’t necessarily on the cards before the arrival of manager Chris Hutchings and assistant manager Martin O’Connor.

Take 16-20 points = a top ten finish.

Take 21-25 points = possibly finishing above Leeds – which would be funny.

Take 26-28 points = the mythical play-off land that exists purely in the minds of journalists with nothing else to talk about.

Take 30 points = yeah right, about as likely as me getting invited on a night out by the residents of a small town in Cheshire.

Of course there’s also the nightmare scenario of 0-4 points and the accompanying slide into the bottom four. It could happen, but even Kevin Broadhurst’s apology of a team somehow managed to pick up 5 points in the last 10 games of 2006.

Technically there’s also the possibility of minus points too but that’ll never happen, will it Jeff?

The more observant of you might have noticed that I’ve not got a great deal of enthusiasm for our play-off push. For the above reasons it is extremely unlikely that we could amass anywhere near the necessary amount of points anyway, but mainly because the side is nowhere near ready for it.

Things are miles better since Hutchings took over in January, and you have to wonder what might’ve been had the club made a more bold appointment last summer, but he definitely needs the close season to shape the squad into exactly what he wants.

That’s not to say I’m not going to turn up at every game still secretly hoping for a 10-0 win, just that I think we all need to view every match between now and May 2 with one eye on next season.

With this in mind, I hope there’ll be the opportunity for a Mark Bradley, Richard Taundry, Netan Sansara or even someone like Sean Geddes to have a decent run in the team, because one thing we are fantastic at is producing good young players.

Fortunately we have a management team who are unlikely to let the season just fizzle out, so put your money on a top ten spot.

Finally, after all the build up I gave the Crewe game what happens? They only go and deny us the three points with an equaliser in the third minute of stoppage time. when the referee had only signalled two.

What a load of you-know-what!