Will Waddock's Wycombe win against Walsall?

Wycombe Wanderers take on Walsall at Adams Park on Saturday in their 15th league game of the season.


Walsall are currently 14th in the table with 17 points from their opening 14 league games.

With four league victories so far this season including two on the road at Brighton and Tranmere, the Saddlers find themselves nine points ahead of the Chairboys going into Saturday's game.

October has seen them pick up four points courtesy of a 3-0 home win over Exeter City and a 2-2 home draw with Carlisle United.

They arrive at Adams Park having lost their last three away games against Hartlepool, Franchise and Colchester United.

After winning the League Two championship in 2007, Walsall have successfully established themselves in League One, finishing 12th with 64 points in 2008 and 13th with 61 points last season.

They are currently managed by former player Chris Hutchings who was appointed in January of this year.


Walsall's last five games

LG1: Huddersfield (H)......Won 2-1
LG1: Carlisle (H)............Drew 2-2
LG1: Franchise (A)...........Lost 1-0
LG1: Exeter (H)...............Won 3-0
LG1: Colchester (A).........Lost 2-1


Walsall Goal Stats

League Goals Scored (Total).....16
League Goals Scored (Away)......5

League Goals Conceded (Total).....18
League Goals Conceded (Away).....10

Clean Sheets....4


Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)

Striker: Troy Deeney...........4
Striker: Darren Byfield.........4
Striker: Steve Jones............4
Striker: Sam Parkin.............2
Striker: Alex Nicholls............1
Midfielder: Dwayne Mattis.....1


Shooting (Top-3)

Troy Deeney............13 on-target....9 off-target.....0 against woodwork
Darren Byfield...........7 on-target....11 off-target....0 against woodwork
Steve Jones.............10 on-target.....4 off-target....0 against woodwork




Wycombe Wanderers are currently 24th in the table with 8 points from their opening 14 games.

Looking back on Wycombe's second league game of the season against Leeds United, when only a fine individual goal by Luciano Becchio separated the two sides and the Chairboys more than matched their opponents during the first half, it's difficult to understand quite how Leeds can now be 25 points ahead of Wycombe after only 14 games.

Normally when a team sits at the bottom of the league with only one win to their name, it conjures up images of a side well and truly out of their depth, but in Wycombe's case, that's just not true.

Apart from their solitary win over Bristol Rovers and a drubbing at Norwich City, the Chairboys have recorded five 1-1 draws and seven defeats by a single goal margin, which suggests they haven't been outclassed and illustrates the thin line between success and failure.

It was certainly a thin line for Peter Taylor, who lost his job over Wycombe's poor start and could reasonably claim that if his players had only defended set-pieces a little better, or key midfielder Tommy Doherty hadn't been injured in pre-season, or the club's new owner hadn't picked this summer to deliver an ill timed coup de grace, it could all have been so different.

As it stands, the Chairboys have forgotten how to win.

Ten fruitless and sometimes soul-sapping games have come and gone since they beat Rovers at the end of August and if new manager Gary Waddock is to stand a chance of turning Wycombe's season around, he needs a win soon in order to sustain any confidence he's managed to instill in the team since his arrival.

Conceding a stoppage time equaliser at Exeter last Saturday was painful for the travelling support, but in truth, at only 1-0 up, it felt almost inevitable and made you long for the luxury of a two goal lead, something Wycombe haven't enjoyed all season.

With the Chairboys even more goal-shy than they were at this time last year, the news that Jon-Paul Pittman and Stuart Beavon are both struggling with injury, could mean Waddock entering the loan-market for a proven goalscorer, something that Taylor was apparently on the verge of doing when his spell in charge was suddenly terminated.


Wycombe's last five games

LG1: Tranmere (H)..........Lost 1-0
LG1: Orient (H)...............Lost 1-0
LG1: Gillingham (A).........Lost 3-2
LG1: Colchester (H) ......Drew 1-1
LG1: Exeter (A).............Drew 1-1


Wycombe Goals Stats

League Goals Scored (Total).....13
League Goals Scored (Home).....4

League Goals Conceded (Total)....22
League Goals Conceded (Home)....7

Clean Sheets....0


Goal Scorers (All Competitions)

Striker: Jon-Paul Pittman.....5
Striker: Matt Harrold...........3
Midfielder: Chris Zebroski....2
Midfielder: Matt Phillips........1
Striker: Stuart Beavon........1
Striker: Ashley Chambers...1
Defender: Craig Woodman..1
Defender: Leon Johnson......1


Shooting (Top-3)

Jon-Paul Pittman.....12 on-target.....8 off-target....0 against woodwork
Stuart Green..........10 on-target....10 off-target....0 against woodwork
Chris Zebroski........12 on-target.....5 off-target....0 against woodwork


League Form Guide

All Games
Wycombe....Pld: 14...W: 1...D: 5...L: 8....Pts: 8.....Pts per game: 0.57
Walsall........Pld: 14...W: 4...D: 5...L: 5...Pts: 17....Pts per game: 1.21


Last Five Games
Wycombe:........LLLDD - 2 points
Walsall:..........WDLWL - 7 points


Last Five Home Games
Wycombe:....WLLLD - 5 points


Last Five Away Games
Walsall:.......DWLLL - 4 points


Against Top Half Opposition
Wycombe...Pld: 8.......Pts: 6......Pts per game: 0.75
Walsall.......Pld: 8.......Pts: 5......Pts per game: 0.62



Against Bottom Half Opposition
Wycombe.....Pld: 6......Pts: 2......Pts per game: 0.33
Walsall.........Pld: 6......Pts: 12....Pts per game: 2.00



Altogether the two sides have met on 15 occasions with 6 wins for Wycombe, 6 for Walsall and 3 draws.

In Wycombe there have been 4 wins for the Chairboys, 1 draw and 2 wins for Walsall.


Previous Meetings at Adams Park

1993/94 LG2: Wycombe 3 Walsall 0
1995/96 LG1: Wycombe 1 Walsall 0
1996/97 LG1: Wycombe 0 Walsall 2
1997/98 LG1: Wycombe 4 Walsall 2
1998/99 LG1: Wycombe 1 Walsall 2
2000/01 LG1: Wycombe 3 Walsall 1
2006/07 LG1: Wycombe 0 Walsall 0



The Man In The Middle

Saturday's referee is Jock Waugh from South Yorkshire who's in his first season as a Football League referee and has never taken charge of a Wycombe game before.


Prediction

Home Win

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