Jimmy Walker is Walsall's No 1

Walsall blogger Mark Jones hails goalkeeper Jimmy Walker as the Saddlers best No 1 ever as 'Super Jim' closes in on the club's all-time appearance record.

He couldn't do anything about Brentford's first on Tuesday night, that was down to poor marking from a corner. He couldn't do anything about their second either, an individual error of hammer horror proportions saw to that.

And, despite his heroics in Devon last weekend, he could do nothing about Plymouth's two goals, as his team-mates seemed to be haunted by the ghost of managers past in the abysmal defeat at Home Park.

But there's no doubt about it in my mind, Jimmy Walker is still the finest goalkeeper I've ever seen play for Walsall.

In almost every area – shot stopping, positioning, catching and the general command of his box - 'Wacka' is supreme.

All of the accolades that Jimmy has received in the build-up to his 500th club appearance have been truly deserved and, all being well, by the time we play Oldham in a week and a half he will be second only to the great Colin Harrison in Walsall's all-time appearances list.

Will he get a crack at breaking it? It's hard to imagine any scenario which wouldn't involve Messrs Smith and Walker sitting down to discuss terms for next season.

Jimmy may be 37 now, he may only have kept a mere five clean sheets all season - his lowest ever for us so far, save for the injury-plagued 1994-95 season - but the difference he has made to our defence since his return has been immense.

At the beginning of the season, there was clearly no-one to command our penalty area and no leadership at the back, meaning confidence amongst our backline was virtually non-existent and wasn't that apparent in those dire autumn performances?

Why it took until the end of October to bring Jimmy home to fill the huge gap created by Clayton Ince's retirement is anybody's guess.

Thankfully the turnaround under 'Deano,' barring the odd duff performance here and there, has been impressive.

Considering I genuinely thought would be down by now with less points than currently feature on my driving licence, to be still fighting to pull off the Great Escape - I am allowed to use the phrase now we're in April - and to be out of the bottom four at this stage of the season is phenomenal.

Five massive games to go, starting with the opportunity to derail Championship-bound Brighton on Saturday.

A big ask for sure, but ask any Saddler who they want to see between the sticks and there can only be one answer – Super Jimmy Walker.