Slough Town - Walsall, England FA Cup

2004-11-13 15.00 CET

Pick:       Walsall

Stake:     3%

Odds:      1,62

Final reasons

It is time for the English FA Cup. Our attention is drawn to the game between Ryman Premier League outfit Slough Town against League One side Walsall. Slough Town is a non-league team hovering around in mid table in the Ryman Premier League which is four tiers down from League One. This should be no problems for a motivated Walsall team. This is the FA Cup and everybody involved in English football take this competition seriously both in terms of the competition itself and financially. If you go through the early stages you may have the luck to be drawn against a big club and that will mean money which can be used to strengthen the squad. So, there are no room for slip ups. Walsall still has their target set on the play off despite their precarious position in the league at the moment. However, they have played very good in some of the most recent matches but been unlucky to not get more points than they have got. A FA Cup victory could be the thing that the club needs to get a kick start of something better and to start climb up the table. They have shown that they are capable of doing that. Tomorrow they will have experienced midfielder Mark Kinsella back from injury. This means that player manager Paul Merson has no important players out injured. First team contender striker Gary Birch and midfielder Daryl Taylor are doubtful for the clash. They will not field on loan goalkeeper John Murphy since he then will be cup-tied for his employer. Slough Town has one player that the Walsall defence must be extra careful with and that is top striker Ian Hodges who netted 39 goals last season. Influential midfielder Veli Hakki is injured and is therefore expected to continue on the sidelines. Walsall is of course the superior team and we fully believe that the outcome of this game will be decided by the Walsall players and their attitude. If they are as motivated as they ought to be they will make the process short with Slough Town. We stake 3% on Walsall.

// SportsObserver 041112