PAUL Boertien is enjoying life on The Saddlers' left with former Derby team-mate Lee Holmes.

The pair played together during their time at Pride Park and, in recent weeks, have linked up well at left-back and left-wing respectively. "It's been good to play with 'Holmesy' again," he said. "I played with him for four years and we know each other's game well.

"He is a very good player. He has had some injuries but I don't know why he is not in the Derby team. That's strange because he is strong enough to be in the team without a shadow of a doubt.

"But we are reaping the benefits because we have got him to the end of the season and he is only going to get better and better."

Holmes was one of a number of Academy players to make an impact on the first-team stage during Boertien's time with County. The likes of Tom Huddlestone (now with Tottenham Hotspur) and Nathan Doyle (now with Hull City) joined Holmes as teenage first-teamers at Pride Park and Boertien admits that he sees plenty of similarities between the Derby class 2003 of and The Saddlers' class of 2008.

"Lee was part of a good academy group coming through at Derby with Tom Huddlestone and Nathan Doyle. They had some good young lads coming through at the same time

"There are similarities with what's happening at Walsall now. There are some good young players here and some experienced players. The mixture is working well.

"Young lads like Bradley, Taundry and Nicholls have come through from the Centre of Excellence and there are other players following them through. There are other more experienced younger players like Anthony Gerrard who are really the cornerstone of our team now and that bodes well for the future."