On entering Bescot Stadium on Saturday It seemed an age had passed since the visit of Exeter City. Trips to Colchester, Wycombe and Stourbridge had come and gone, largely successfully and one particular aspect of our play seems to have improved greatly in that shortish space of time. Think of the three goals in the Exeter game, then about the three at Wycombe, then the one at Stourbridge and then try to picture the two we netted against Stockport. Those goals netted us nine points and put us through to the FA Cup second round while bringing four wins in five games, impressive by any standards even if the same can’t necessarily be said of the way we’ve played in these matches. What’s been most impressive has been the way(s) in which these goals were scored, every one of the nine goals netted against these opponents came courtesy of a piece of classy finishing, something we’ve needed to get right for a while and which seems to have been a priority in training in recent weeks. Long may this continue!

Another thing to improve quite drastically over the last couple of months or so is our home form and I now find myself going to Bescot feeling that a win is likely, something that certainly wasn’t the case not so long ago. Many of us will have had a chuckle at the thought of Bescot becoming a ‘fortress’ after the way we laboured through our early home games, appearing to have no idea how to put our opponents to the sword. Now we find ourselves looking back on three wins in the last four at home, having taken ten points from twelve over that period, and this after playing poorly in the first half against both Exeter and Stockport. We’re now seeing goals scored regularly at the home end, an event that became rarer than hens’ teeth last season, and confidence in the team is rising, if not rapidly. The acid test of the improvement in our home form, however, won’t be long in coming. In the space of slightly less than a month from early December onward we face a spell of four home games in which we’ll receive visits from Southampton, Norwich and Charlton, although the Charlton one will have to be played later if we get past our second round FA Cup opponents, with the fourth being against Leyton Orient, a team we’ve not beaten on our soil since 1984/85! If we can come through that little lot with a decent haul of points then we’ll be able to look upwards in earnest, although it is, as they say, a very big ‘ask’.

One man deserving of a lot of credit over the last few weeks is Steve Jones, for the dignified way he’s gone about his job while no doubt being worried sick about his wife’s illness. Indeed it seems that adversity might well have brought the best out of the man. He’s quite obviously a very willing trier – something that always has, and always will, go down well with Saddlers fans – but the quality in his game is now coming through and his enjoyment of his football is pretty evident. He’s now hitting the net regularly enough to have become top scorer and I find myself enjoying the chance to watch him and willing him to do well.

The Stockport game was another case of a featureless first half – other than Richards’ goal! -  being followed by a marked second half improvement, one which seemed at one point likely to bring a four- or five-goal win once the Dazzler had doubled our lead shortly after the break. I suppose it was too much to ask and a two-nil win was probably a fair reflection of the play, especially when we consider that the WFC website match stats had us down as only having 28% of possession over the whole game. To achieve a two-goal win when your opponents have had the ball for three quarters of  the game is a feat that ought not to be taken lightly!!

Even when taking into account the defeat at Colchester it has to be said that the four weeks since the Exeter game have been pretty good for Walsall Football Club and have given reason for guarded optimism. Just watch some sod go and spoil things......