WREXHAM have to pick themselves up after the heavy defeat at Boston and take on League Two's pacesetters Walsall this Saturday. The Midlands club have stormed to a seven-point lead at the top of the table, despite suffering their first home defeat of the season last week at the hands of Swindon Town.

As well as the result, there was more bad news last Saturday with the news that midfielder Mark Jones had picked up a knee injury in the warm-up that will certainly keep him out of Denis Smith's plans for the Walsall game. 

On a more positive note, striker Lee McEvilly came through a reserve game against Macclesfield, finding the net twice. He will give Smith another option up front, along with Neil Roberts, Juan Ugarte, Kevin Smith and Chris Llewellyn.

There will be a familiar face in the opposition this weekend, as striker Hector Sam returns to his former club. He scored 40 goals in five seasons for the Reds, making 93 appearances and a further 83 as substitute. 

Sam has been in good form for the Saddlers this season, finding the net four times. His last goal came earlier this month as he bagged a late winner away to Bury. Hector must be proving a good omen for his new club; when he has scored, they have always gone on to win!

Despite being in a comfortable position at the top of League Two, there have been a couple of disappointing results for manager Richard Money. After winning the Manager of the Month award for November, Money saw his slide slump to a 2-0 defeat to Swindon after goals from Jutkiewicz and Roberts.

They also bowed out of the FA Cup at the first stage after losing to lowly Macclesfield in a replay, with Paul Ince gaining his first win as manager.

Last time out

The last time the clubs faced each other was in League One in the 2004-05 season. The most recent encounter was at the Bescot Stadium where the teams fought out a 2-2 draw. Wrexham went ahead twice with goals from Darren Ferguson and Chris Llewellyn. However, they could not hold on and the home side equalised through Jorge Leitao. 

There was a similar story earlier in the season as Walsall took a point away from the encounter at the Racecourse. The Dragons went ahead early on through Dennis Lawrence, but defender Julian Bennett popped up to equalise and deny Wrexham all three points.

Ben Roberts