The last week for Walsall Football Club and it's ever-faithful supporters has been one of opposing extremes. There must have been countless times in our history when a heartening win has been achieved only for those involved to have the wind quickly taken from their sails when the following game has ended in defeat. That's life when you're a Saddlers fan and you don't really expect anything else. Stoicism is a must if you're serious about taking the club to your heart. The Saddlers will drive you mad and there's nothing you can do about it, as Jimmy Greaves used to be so fond of saying, football is, indeed, a funny old game. Funny 'peculiar', not funny 'ha-ha'.
Now, be honest, did any of you really expect us to beat Leeds United last Saturday? Apart from Nottingham Forest I can't think of another 'big' club that we've beaten on a regular basis, and our record against Leeds before Saturday was abysmal. United had recently changed manager and that often brings new thinking, new tactics and an improved response from the players, all of which, of course, could be equally applied to us. The presence of so many Peacocks fans also made it feel as though the invading hordes had just stormed across the border in search of easy plunder in the form of three more points and a decent boost to their goal difference. Home empty-handed they went!
The much-vaunted Beckford and Delph began the game but such was our performance that neither had much impact, as with Becchio when he appeared as a sub. Our players stood up to them magnificently and refused to let these lauded 'stars' run the game with the end result being that Clayton had little to do on an afternoon he would never have expected to be so quiet. We fully deserved our win and the game to come against Leicester on Tuesday night suddenly seemed a much more inviting proposition than might have been the case. Providing it could beat the weather!
The club pulled out all the stops to make sure the game would go ahead and we duly turned up with a sense of expectancy that had been missing for quite a while. I never thought we'd actually beat the Foxes but a draw didn't seem out of the question as Saturday's win had given everyone a huge boost. What we hadn't allowed for was the fact that Leicester would turn out to be so impressive. It wasn't that we played badly but more of a case of not being able to play well when the opposition have always got the bloody ball! They played the sort of football we always tried to play under Alan Buckley but with a far larger budget and while being top of the table. We could never quite put the football and the lofty league position together.
However, a four-one home defeat is never something to be easily accepted and we all fell back to earth with a resounding thud. As if someone was telling us "Oi, you Saddlers fans, don't go getting any big ideas!" Big ideas? Us? As if! The chance would be a fine thing.
Being a Saddlers fan has probably been ever thus, In turn exhilarating, baffling, depressing, maddening and a pain in the backside. Supporting Walsall isn't always something that's beneficial to your health, but then neither is smoking and plenty of people still partake. Supporting our lot isn't going to bugger up your lungs but it certainly won't do your ticker any favours and is quite likely to increase your alcohol intake, if only in an effort to obliterate memories of the Merson era!
It's back now to our bread-and-butter, 'normal', league fixtures. The run-of-the-mill games against teams we've already played dozens of times each over the years. We know how to handle these times because it's what we've nearly always done. There isn't quite the same 'high' in beating Hartlepool - no disrespect to the Monkeys Hangers intended - as there is in turning over Leeds but it's a much more likely outcome.