January could be the cruellest month

So you wait six months for the bus marked home win to arrive and suddenly three come along at once, writes Walsall's Sporting Star columnist Darren Fellows.

This combined with the bit of away form we've managed to generate since that 0-3 spanking at Hartlepool in late September has seen a gradual climb up the league table that finds us this morning on the very cusp of the play off picture.

And while I have doubts that we can maintain this form and league position right the way through to May, not least because we still have to negotiate the notorious January transfer window, the league table makes far better reading with us challenging in the higher echelons rather than dragging our heels with the divisions stragglers.

January still worries me however. It is hardly a secret that the club has more than a bit of previous in allowing their home-grown gems to be snatched at bargain basement prices and with the debt levels so outlandishly large there is little to suggest that if a bid arrives in late January for on of the handful of saleable assets in Chris Hutchings squad that it won't mean another squad number being available on Feb 1st.

In addition to this there is also the renewal of Darren Byfield's contract to be extended.

And as co-blogger Mark Jones noted last week until the ink has dried on that particular deal the spectre of an offer from one of our competitors luring a key component of Hutchings squad away from the sanctity of the Bescot home dressing room looms large.

The names Gino Padula and Junior immediately spring to mind as players who should have deals renewed and extended long before their stay at Walsall concluded all too promptly and they then popped up at one of our rivals at the most inopportune moment.

Put simply the facts are that Byfield has made a huge difference since his arrival not only in results but also with the players playing around him and there appears no evidence to suggest that an extended deal would harm the club. So avoid the potential for pitfalls and sort the deal now.

A nice result at the weekend and a kind draw on Sunday lunchtime would obviously make the decision to commit to this deal even easier.

Clearly it would be nice to claim a third round berth at the first time of asking with victory at Griffin Park but the most important thing this weekend is to ensure that our name goes into the hat in some form.

Should that include a replay a fortnight yesterday then so be it – I'm sure Jeff and Roy would love the kind of interest and growth in crowd that Peterborough had for that 3rd round replay in 1998 once the trip to Old Trafford was up for grabs.

It has been a while since we exited this particular competition at the 2nd round stage, hopefully we can keep that run going for a little while longer.