THE EVER-popular Mark Rees will go down in Walsall Masters history after he bagged our first-ever goal.

Rees' close-range effort gave The Saddlers the lead against tournament favourites, Wolves and it took a last-gasp goal to deny us what would have been a deserved victory against the eventual winners who went on to score seven against West Bromwich Albion and six against Aston Villa in the Final.

"I was like a kid in a sweet shop," enthused Rees. "It was a fantastic day and to score our opening goal was the icing on the cake for me.

"It was a long-awaited Masters debut for us and the supporters who turned up were absolutely brilliant.

"The effort that the lads put in couldn't be faulted - not too bad for old men! Obviously the other teams involved had plenty of previous Masters experience, but we have learned from it and can't wait for next year!"

Meanwhile, Dean Smith had a solid tournament in the Walsall defence. "It was very enjoyable," he said. "It was nice to see a few old faces and I thought that we gave a very good account of ourselves.

"Everyone expected us to be the whipping boys but we made our intentions clear in the first game and came so close to beating Wolves.

"It was good fun and nice to see so many fans behind us."

Another hard-working and committed member of the Walsall side was Paul Jones. "I think that Wolves under-estimated our fighting spirit in the first game, " he said. "They termed us 'Dad's Army', but we gave them a real fright and were just seconds away from victory.

"I think our legs started to tire in the second game against Albion, particularly as we knew that we had to win by seven clear goals to make it into the Final.

"We threw everything at them in the second half, but it just wasn't to be.

"I was really impressed by the turnout of Saddlers' fans and it all contributed to an excellent evening."

Team Co-ordinator, Andrew Poole added: "The lads did the club proud. We were the oldest team in the tournament, but it didn't show.

"We got our tactics spot on in the first game, but the fact that we needed to win by seven clear goals in the next game meant that we had to change our game plan and that didn't suit us.

"Each and every one of our players made a valuable contribution on the night, from the superb Ron Green in goal right the way through to Kevin Wilson whose previous experience of the Masters was helpful to the other lads.

"All in all we made many friends and the turnout of Walsall supporters was superb. Hopefully we will be invited back next year."

Look out for some photos from the event here on www.saddlers.co.uk later today...

PHOTOS: Kevin Grice