- Founded: 1888
- Nickname: The Saddlers
- Honours: League 2 (2006/07), Fourth Division (1959/60)
The bird on the Walsall FC crest directly links to the formation of the Club. Two of the leading teams in the area during the 1880’s were the Walsall Swifts and Walsall Town. In 1888 the two decided to join forces as Walsall Town Swifts and changed the name in 1895 to just simply, Walsall.
The nickname ‘The Saddlers’ reflects town’s status as the home of the leather industry. During the First World War, one single saddlery company from Walsall supplied an incredible 100,000 saddles for the British Army, in one year alone.
The Saddlers are Original Members of both the old Third and Fourth Divisions and won their first Fourth Division title in the 1959/60 season managed by Billy Moore. They got promoted again in 1961 to reach the Second Division for the first time in their history.
After back-to-back relegations in 1979/80 to drop back to Div 4, Walsall returned to Division 2, eight years later.
At the end of the century Walsall would find themselves in Division 1 (The Championship) where they spent 4 of the next 5 years, before another double relegation found the Saddlers back in the basement tier.
In 2006/07, Walsall won their second title, pipping Hartlepool to the League Two trophy on the final day of the season, to regain League 1 status. After twelve years in the third tier Walsall were relegated back to League 2 in 2019, and finished 12th before the curtailment.
Barrow ended their three-game losing run by upsetting promotion-chasing Northampton with a 1-0 victory at Sixfields.
Aaron Amadi-Holloway was the match-winner as he headed home early in the second half to earn the lowly visitors three well-deserved points at the expense of the out-of-sorts Cobblers.
Barrow dominated the opening exchanges and created half chances for Remeao Hutton and Luke James but neither hit the target.
Despite improving as the first half wore on, Northampton struggled to muster any meaningful opportunities and visiting goalkeeper Paul Farman was only called into action to make simple saves from Mitch Pinnock and Sam Hoskins.
Barrow hit the front six minutes into the second half when John Rooney and Anthony Driscoll-Glennon linked up on the left and the latter’s cross was deep to the back post where Amadi-Holloway headed in.
Northampton failed to produce a response and succumbed to their first defeat in four.
Aaron Collins headed a 90th-minute winner to give 10-man Bristol Rovers home victory over Walsall in League Two.
Joey Barton’s men created the best of the few first-half chances, Luke Thomas forcing Carl Rushworth to save at the second attempt after 18 minutes, with the ball finally being held on the line.
The hosts then went a man down after 38 minutes when right-back Luca Hoole was shown a second yellow card for a foul, having been booked four minutes earlier for dissent.
However, the Saddlers were unable to capitalise and it took until the 65th minute for the visitors to register a shot on target, with Conor Wilkinson’s low drive comfortably saved by Belshaw.
And they eventually paid the price when goalkeeper Rushworth collided with Rovers substitute Harvey Saunders advancing from his line and the ball broke for Collins to nod home from close range.
James Belshaw protected the lead with his only testing save in the dying seconds, but it was one of few threatening moments for the Rovers keeper.
Northampton Town 1-1 Walsall (Walsall win 4-2 on penalties)
The Cobblers met with Walsall earlier this season in the Papa John’s Trophy group stage.
It was a wet and windy evening at Sixfields and it was the visitors who made a quick start with Emmanuel Osadebe opening the scoring after being played in by Brendan Kiernan in the fourth minute.
There were plenty of chances throughout the match for the Cobblers to draw level, Dylan Connolly had a penalty appeal turned down following a challenge from Alfie Bates, Mitch Pinnock curled a free-kick just wide of the post and Kion Etete headed wide all before half-time.
The second half began as the first had ended, Etete saw an effort well saved by Jack Rose, who was also tested by Mitch Pinnock and Jordan Flores before Jon Brady made a triple substitution. Shaun McWilliams, Benny Ashley-Seal and Max Dyche all entered the field of play and it wasn’t long before the Cobblers had a reward for their work. Manny Monthe fouled Kion Etete in the area and Dylan Connolly stepped up, scoring from the spot and sending Rose the wrong way in the process.
It could have been sealed inside 90 minutes but Jack Rose made a good save with his legs, denying Kion Etete, not for the first time that evening. It finished all square at full-time with the two sides heading in to a penalty shoot-out to decide who would earn the extra point.
Mitch Pinnock’s effort came off of the cross bar, Dylan Connolly scored his second penalty of the evening whilst Kion Etete’s effort was saved. Jordan Flores scored from the spot but it wasn’t enough as Walsall scored all four of their penalties and won the shoot-out 4-2.
| Played | Won | Draw | Lost | F | A |
| 85 | 32 | 17 | 36 |
PLAYED FOR BOTH
We look at a selection of players that played for the Cobblers and Barrow.
SEB STOCKBRIDGE will take charge of the Cobblers match v Barrow this Tuesday night.
The Tyne-based official will travel to the Banks Stadium for his 25th game of the campaign and his ninth game in League Two. so far this season there were 29 games he took charge of, giving 74 yellows and 3 reds.
Mark Derrien and Lee Freeman
Fourth Official : Ravel Cheosiaua
| Date | Home Team | Result | Away Team |
| 21.11.2020 | (24.)Burton Albion | 1:3 | Northampton(22.) |
| 31.08.2019 | (19.)Northampton | 3:1 | Plymouth(2.) |
| 23.10.2018 | (24.)Macclesfield | 0:5 | Northampton(21.) |
| 18.08.2018 | (17.)Northampton | 2:2 | Cambridge Utd.(15.) |
| 28.04.2018 | (19.)Walsall | 1:0 | Northampton(22.) |
| 05.08.2017 | (3.)Shrewsbury | 1:0 | Northampton(22.) |
| 16.08.2016 | (22.)Oldham Athletic | 0:0 | Northampton(15.) |
| 23.02.2016 | (22.)York City | 1:2 | Northampton(2.) |
| 29.08.2015 | (13.)Accrington | 1:1 | Northampton(10.) |
| 20.12.2014 | (23.)Carlisle United | 2:1 | Northampton(16.) |
| 07.09.2013 | (22.)Northampton | 1:1 | Scunthorpe Utd.(14.) |
MATT TAYLOR
Former Northampton Town player, Matt Taylor, is the man in charge of the opposition dugout, taking his first managerial role in football after working in the Tottenham Hotspur academy after hanging his boots up in 2019. Taylor took the role of Head Coach in May 2021, starting the position from 1st June 2021 so he could finish the under 18 campaign at Tottenham Hotspur.blob:https://cobblerspast.com/134906f3-dac9-4e97-a304-af8be713ca42
Prior to joining Walsall, Taylor was in charge of Tottenham Hotspur Under 18’s, a position he had held from 2019-2021. He has also had a very brief spell in caretaker charge of Swindon Town when he was a player, managing the team for one game before the appointment of Phil Brown. Following Brown’s arrival, Taylor became a player/coach, forming part of the backroom staff.
| 1 | Northampton have won six of their last seven Football League games against Barrow (L1), with this their first such meeting since October 1971. |
| 2 | Northampton have won just three of their last 13 Football League games Walsall (L10), with the only away win in that period coming in March 2008 under Stuart Gray. |
| 3 | No player has been directly involved in more league goals for Walsall this season than Brendan Kiernan (8 – four goals, four assists), while he also leads all players for the team in assists (4). |
| 4 | Northampton kept a clean sheet away from home in their last such fixture against Sutton (0-0) – they haven’t recorded consecutive Football League shutouts on the road since their first two games of the season against Colchester (1-0) and Crawley (0-0 |
