Leeds win has set the benchmark

Walsall blogger Mark Jones believes that the historic at Leeds United in midweek has set the benchmark that must be aspired to for the rest of the season.

Just when we were wondering why we bother, the mighty Saddlers go and beat the Damned United in their own back yard to boot.

Did we deserve it? Arguably yes, we played as a team, defended well and took our chances. Leeds were woeful, their final ball was terrible and they seem to have fallen for the cult of Jermaine Beckford - hoof it forward and hope wonderboy does the business. Still that's very much their problem.

Walsall's problem is how to follow up the win at Elland Road. We must not lose sight of the fact that prior to Tuesday we had won one game in 10 and last Saturday's defeat at Oldham must class as one of our worst of the season.

The stat of 10 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats in League One cry aloud that we are nothing more than a mid-table side who can give the big boys a game on our day.

But, starting from 3pm tomorrow and carrying on until the end of the season, boss Chris Hutchings and assistant Martin O'Connor should be expecting - no make that demanding - the level of commitment, application and skill showed the other night. Or else.

Our support at Leeds was as fantastic as our away support nearly always is. There is a hardcore who will follow the club anywhere unconditionally. Sadly there are many who aren't going home and away anymore. Attracting people through the gates was a topic for discussion at Monday's late afternoon Focus Group meeting.

Fair play to the club in that they've looked into and acted on some of the issues discussed back in December's meeting.

Dan Mole and Nigel Bond sampled the matchday experience at the last home game to give themselves an insight into everything from the pre-match beer to the catering to the atmosphere, or lack of it. This is commendable and is a good method of enabling those fine adjustments that can go a long way to improving things for fans.

The club are looking at getting a betting facility back in the ground, improving the Bescot Bar and getting more 'idols' to mix with fans in the Stadium Suite pre-match. Most impressively a deal has been struck to put on transport from the outlying areas of the borough for a trial period over the last five home games.

This will be publicised further in the coming weeks and it deserves encouragement.

Other issues discussed ranged from making the Lower Gilbert a sit anywhere zone, a good idea, to turning the music off after the teams enter the field in an attempt to up the volume of the singing, something I can see possibly having an effect.

Not so good was the notion of allowing free admission to season ticket holders from other local clubs. Thankfully the latter idea was dismissed.

But I am pleased the club are starting to talk and, more importantly, listen to their supporters. What we need to do as fans is make sure we know what we want out of the club.

Next Wednesday is the Annual General Meeting of the Supporters Trust in the Saddlers Club. It may be worth popping down and making a contribution.

And, who knows, we might even have picked up a few more points by then!