George Bennett previews Walsall's huge promotion clash with Port Vale

Express & Star

George Bennett brings you all the latest from Mat Sadler's pre-match press conference. The Saddlers face the third game in a big week in the promotion race - as they look to back up two draws with a victory over Vale.

Transcript

00:00Hi folks, I was speaking to Matt Sadler at Essington on Thursday ahead of Walsall's crunch

00:08clash against promotion rivals and of course local rivals Port Vale on Saturday and just

00:15a few updates on the team news and Matt Sadler was unable to clarify whether George Hall

00:21will be in any condition to start the game but he said he will be available for selection.

00:27He obviously made his comeback from a four-month layoff due to a hamstring injury as a substitute

00:32in the 1-1 draw against AFC Wimbledon.

00:35It best got on Saturday last week and then he was a surprise absence initially in the

00:43squad for the draw against Doncaster in South Yorkshire and Matt Sadler then later explained

00:48it was a pre-arranged thing with his parent club, Birmingham City, whereby he would make

00:54half an hour to around 20 minutes from the bench against Wimbledon, then sit out the

00:59midweek game and do specialised work in training sessions during the week and then be back

01:07ready to play on the weekend so that's a major boost for Walsall.

01:11Elsewhere, Ellis Harrison and Josh Gordon both in contention but Matt Sadler was unable

01:17to confirm whether both will definitely be available for selection so I guess it's kind

01:23of a wait and see on that one, they'll be monitoring both of them before the game.

01:27Elsewhere in terms of the team news, Priestley Farquharson obviously was kind of earmarked

01:31for a return towards the end of March and that's not quite turned out to be the case

01:36unfortunately and it's still unlikely for him to feature or be available for Walsall

01:43against Port Vale and the same case for Jack Earing but Matt Sadler did previously state

01:51a couple of weeks ago that Jack Earing would be targeting a return for the game against

01:55Barrow which is of course on the 12th April so that one might be one to keep an eye out

02:00for over the coming week.

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