The Official Walsall Match Thread (Sponsored by 9th August 2025 "for all your 1-0 home win v Walsall needs")

After last weekend's "competitive friendly" fixture that ended our interest in the EFL Cup, we turn our attention to the bread and butter of League Two, welcoming Walsall to Priestfield tomorrow.

It was a fairly disjointed new-look side that took to the turf last weekend. Yet again our luck with injuries seems to be out, with a plethora of first team starters missing, plus our first and second choice 'keepers all out of contention for that game. Yes, Luton are a higher division team with better players and were fully expected to win the contest, but you could be forgiven for expecting a bit more from Gills, especially at home. As it was, there was very little in last Saturday's performance to distinguish it from any other in the melange of misery we've seen across the last few seasons. Our passing accuracy was below 60%, we managed just two shots on target, one of which was so weak it didn't even make the extended highlight reel, and we could, realistically, have conceded a couple more. An inauspicious start.

Tomorrow's visitors are Walsall, a side looking to improve on a 13th placed finish last season. Like Gills, their early season promise at the head of the table did not last, as eight defeats from 14 after the Christmas period saw them slide down the table and out of the promotion picture for the second season in succession.  Mat Sadler ultimately paid the price for their form falling off a cliff, receiving his P45 in March, with ex-Gill Darren Byfield stepping in as caretaker until the end of the season, at which point former Sheffield Wednesday and Derby 'keeper, Lee Grant took on just his second managerial role.

The Saddlers have seen 14 of last season's squad depart, with nine permanent arrivals being supplemented with three loanees. There's some experience in the new arrivals; Andrew Dallas arriving from Barnsley with a very productive goalscoring spell under his belt on loan at Southend last season and James Connolly and Reece Smith each with full League Two 2025/26 seasons under their belts at Crewe and Harrogate respectively.

Walsall's journey in the League Cup continues, having claimed an impressive early scalp by knocking out Championship Bristol City 0-1 at Ashton Gate. This was a decent response to a fairly poor pre-season where they lost heavily 0-5 against neighbours Aston Villa, received an identical thumping from (oh, look) Luton Town, plus a defeat to non-league Telford United. Their sole win came against Notts Forest U21s behind closed doors.

The pre-match interviews with GA have provided us with the usual raft of ifs, buts and maybes:

- Apparently any new faces might not arrive before deadline day on 1st September, our previous transfer policy laid bare with the following quote "We're not just waving our finger in the air any more, we are actually properly targeting people.”. A truly staggering comment if true. 

- We have to wait until Saturday to discover who the captain is, with several names in the frame, Liam Gordon and Omar Beckles among the front runners to replace Armani Little. I can't wait.

- In something that will come as a surprise to absolutely no-one, we are not being talked about as promotion contenders, something that pleases GA. 

- GA wants the current team to have an identifiable way of playing; the shapeless mush of last season apparently being the fault of the previous players, a good number of whom he re-signed

- Some blurb about players potentially coming back from injury and being ready to play which is to be taken with Dead Sea levels of salt.

Despite the summer holidays, last weekend's result and years of disappointment, there should be a reasonable crowd in tomorrow, with a smidge under 2000 tickets available in the home ends and 269 available in the Rainham End. The early season optimism is with the Saddlers however, who sold their initial 450 allocation and received another batch, a decent turnout from them.

The head to head is deadlocked at 48 wins apiece from 125 fixtures since our first meeting in the FA Cup some 125 years ago. Across the last 20 Walsall visits, dating back to 1997, it's been very close, Gills with seven wins to Walsall's five with eight draws. Our last win was also our first home game of last season, Bradley Dack with the winner in a scrappy 1-0 win.

For the highlights, it's back to 2004, a brace from Patrick Agyemang and a late header from Danny Spiller giving us a comfortable 3-0 home win that could have been several more.

Clearly, tomorrow's result won't define our season, but it would be good to see some green shoots of progress for all GA's talk about identity and it being his team and blah blah blah. Walsall will be a tough nut to crack in hot conditions. Let's hope one or two of the newbies show their quality and deliver us a first home win against the same opponents for the second season running. 

Enjoy the game if you're watching, and...

COYG!!!