Walsall v Forest Green Rovers: Darrell Clarke has selection headache

Mark Cooper’s men head to the Banks’s Stadium tomorrow for what is the Saddlers first home game of the 2019/20 campaign.

Rovers finished in the League Two play-offs last season and are expected to be part of the promotion race again this year.

Walsall, though, enter the game determined to make it two wins from two following their opening-day victory at Northampton.

And after the Saddlers played a behind-closed-doors friendly against Kidderminster earlier this week, Clarke said he has players knocking on his door wanting to start.

“Any team that wants to be successful has to be strong at home,” the boss said.

“Forest Green are a tough team, they were in the play-off mix last year.

“They are well organised and a very possession-based team.

“Every team in this league poses a different challenge, they all have different strengths and weaknesses – that’s why I call them projects.

“But we have spent all week working towards it.

“We had a behind-closed-doors game on Tuesday and I’d like to thank Kidderminster Harriers for bringing their under-23s to that.

“The lads got some minutes into them. And I have now got a selection headache because there were some good performances from the boys who haven’t played 90 minutes yet.

“There are lads who are chomping at the bit to make their debuts.”

Walsall put in an organised and gritty display to kick-start the campaign with a 1-0 win last weekend.

They needed Liam Roberts to help them out, with the glovesman making two excellent stops to thwart Keith Curle’s Northampton.

And Clarke admitted he expects his team to be better on the ball in the future.

“It was a dogged performance at Northampton,” he added. “We weren’t great with the ball – far from it. But there was a good determination in the group.

“Through the course of the season, you have to find different ways of winning a football match.

“We had to grind out three points. The keeper made a couple of good saves. Liam picked up a lot of criticism last season, but he started the season very well and with a clean sheet – long may that continue.

“We just want to try and get that little bit of consistency in the group.”