First, the good news: We are unbeaten in our last nine games against Walsall. Only a late goal saved them from home defeat by Bromley on Tuesday. In addition, we have played them three times before in the FA Cup and the away team has always won.

Now, the not-so-good news: They beat Bolton 2-1 in the last round. They are second in League Two with a game in hand on leaders Port Vale. They have lost only one of their last eleven fixtures. They have 19 year old Nathan Lowe on loan from Stoke and he has scored 11 goals in 19 appearances. Their confidence is high

"We fear nobody at the minute," said Jamie Jellis, who scored the winner against Bolton "And that's testimony to the characters we have. Defender Liam Gordon concurs: "It's our mentality. We have no fear going into these games against higher opposition. It possibly spurs us on a bit more, as we believe we'll be there next season."

Our first FA Cup encounter with Walsall was in December 1972 when we went to Fellows Park for a second round tie, having beaten Tonbridge 5-0 in the first round. We were 1-0 down with fifteen minutes left but goals from Paul Davies and Arthur Horsfield (in injury time) saw us through.

In January 1987 Walsall of the Third Division were the visitors to Selhurst Park for a third round tie against our full-strength First Division side. Despite taking an eighth minute lead through Mark Stuart we lost the game 1-2. Some would say that we found compensation in getting to Wembley for the Full Member's Cup Final instead. Many, however, wouldn't subscribe to that view.

In 2002 Walsall - a Championship team- came to The Valley for a fourth round tie against our Premier League side. Two goals from Jorge Leitão were enough to beat a team which included Kiely, Costa, Robinson, Stuart, Powell, Euell and Johansson. Graham Stuart missed a penalty and, although he did score a goal five minutes later, it wasn't enough.

For supporters of advanced years, however, there is really only one game at Walsall which counts. It was Friday 24th May 1963 - the last game of the season.  Charlton needed to win to stay up and send Walsall down. Walsall needed a draw to send us down. The game had started the previous Tuesday but had been abandoned at half time due to a waterlogged pitch with the score 0-0.  In the rearranged match, the Saddlers' goalkeeper Boswell suffered a fractured cheek bone in the 41st minute and had to leave the field. Palin took over in goal and Walsall played with ten men for the rest of the game. Goals from Kenning and Peacock seemed to have secured safety but, of course, we conceded in the 72nd minute to guarantee a tense finish. As manager Frank Hill admitted after the game: "we made hard work of beating a side reduced to nine and a half fit men"

And who can forget the 1928/29 season when we had to win at Fellows Park to gain our first ever promotion?  Nearly 16,000 watched the game but manager Alex MacFarlane was not among them. He was so tense that he left the stadium and walked around the town for ninety minutes, not returning until he was informed by a local man that the home team had "got beat 2-0"

Nevertheless, anyone who watched Charlton make hard work of beating Burton on Tuesday will have little doubt that Saturday's tie will be a tough one.