Darrell Clarke: Walsall taking a risk with no sub goalkeeper

The Saddlers travel to Morecambe tonight having ended their losing run with Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Oldham.

Rose was missing from the squad with injury and no back-up goalkeeper was named on the bench.

Although Clarke admits he took a chance, he is expecting Rose to return sooner rather than later.

“Rosey has a pull at the top of his leg so we’ll assess it,” Clarke said. “We’re hoping it’s not going to be too long.

“The medical team tell me it’s not great training on 4G every day, but we have to get on with it. That’s where we are.

“We’ll crack on. That’s what my players have to do. We won’t be moaning or whinging about that.

“You can pick up one or two muscle injuries playing on it, but that’s where we’re at.

“Hopefully we don’t pick up many more but training has to be high intensity and competitive.

“Clarkey’s (James Clarke) injury is where he catches one on the end of his toe and it opens up his knee, you can do that on any pitch. You can do that on concrete.

“Sometimes it’s a bit of bad luck. (Rory) Holden does it on a tackle, not a dirty tackle, but he’s turned into somebody and the connection is there.

“It happens in football and it’s unfortunate when we were just starting to get some real momentum.

“I’m hoping it’s not going to be that long (for Rose).

“It’s a bit of a punt not having a goalkeeper on the bench.

“Rosey did quite well in the team and Robbo (Liam Roberts) has come in and had a good game, to be fair to him.

“If you put Rosey on the bench everyone is saying ‘why isn’t Rosey playing?’ Everyone will think he is fit when he wasn’t fit to kick a ball. There’s no point having him on the bench because he’ll be a liability if he had to come on for Robbo.

“It was three subs when I played and there wasn’t a goalkeeper in sight, same when it was five subs. It’s not very often the goalkeeper gets injured so we’ll crack on.”

The Shrimps pose a different threat to last year’s relegation candidates, as Derek Adams has transformed them into play-off hopefuls.

Although they lost to Leyton Orient on the weekend, they sit ninth in League Two and have won their last four games at home.

“Derek has done a great job at Morecambe but the table is so tight isn’t it,” Clarke added. “There’s not a lot between top and bottom and you always have to be at it. Teams are very equal. You can play teams at good times if they have a lot of injuries. There’s a lot of football to be played and not many points in it in the table. We had to stop the rot, it’s important we did that. We’d have liked to stop it with a win but it’s important we build from here into Tuesday night.”

Rose, James Clarke, George Nurse and Danny Guthrie – who all missed Saturday’s game with injury – are still expected to be unavailable. Aston Villa loanee Tyreik Wright may be handed his debut but Jack Nolan will be hoping to keep his place after an impressive performance at the weekend.

“He’s (Nolan) had his best 65 minutes hasn’t he, some good deliveries,” Clarke added.

“His deliveries were hit and miss in the set pieces because in the corners it’s very boggy on this pitch.

“The drainage is good but not necessarily in the corners.

“But he certainly showed some good touches and put some good balls in and looked dangerous. We’re really pleased with that.

“He hadn’t taken his opportunity previously but he’s shown a lot more (against Oldham) and long may that continue.

“Lets not forget he is 19, he’s a second year pro. Bates is in there and he’s a second year pro.

“The young boys are hopefully going to get better.”