Walsall head to Leyton Orient seeking a little bit of consistency following a strange week in which they were thrashed five nil at Bescot on Saturday then put three goals past Brighton here on Tuesday in the first half without adding to the score.Leyton Orient meanwhile have won their last three games and are an in-form team.
Orient are in 17th position in League One and have only won at home four times this season, drawing four and losing nine.Saddlers will be looking to gain revenge for the disappointing 0-2 defeat at Bescot early in the season. Manager Chris Hutchings will be without Anthony Gerrard following his calf injury he suffered v Brighton in midweek plus the usual sick-note Steve Roberts and of course Michael Ricketts who is still out suspended.
One striker who is expected to play and is no doubt looking forward to his old stomping ground is Jabo Ibehre who scored 36 times in 209 league games for his former club over nine seasons.Jabo may have been down on his luck in front of goal lately and it would be nice if his hard work was rewarded on Saturday.Stephen Hughes who missed the last game due to
'personal reasons' is back in training and will be assessed on the day. I would like to see Mark Bradley start the game.
Leyton Orient play at the Match Room Stadium as they call it these days-for many of us they still play at Brisbane Road. My one and only visit was in the dark days of 1990-1 where we managed to get a 1-1 draw.The place has changed a bit since then.
Earlier this year Orient parted company with their managerial team of Martin Ling and ex-Saddler Dean Smith.Youth team boss Kevin Nugent was named caretaker for a while before the club turned to Geraint Williams. Nugent is now his assistant.
Chris Hutchings is still clinging on to the prospect of making the play-offs as you would expect but this game is going to be tough, there's no doubt about that and Saddlers will have to play a lot better than the last away game at Southend if they are to return home with three points this weekend.