Walsall reached the second round of the FA Youth Cup in style with a ruthless display away at Shrewsbury Town.
Jayden Campbell opened the scoring after five minutes before a the Saddlers put the game to bed within the space of a minute midway through the second half as Troy Perez-Duah and Saif Mukadam struck to take the game away from the hosts.
Substitute Bradley Taylor put the cherry on top of the icing on the cake when he smashed the ball home to cap off the perfect day for the Saddlers.
The visitors made the perfect start and took the lead after just five minutes when the ball was played over the top and Campbell hooked it past Jaden Bevan and into the back of the net.
Shrewsbury came close to levelling on 15 minutes when William Thomas arrowed in a shot that just missed the target.
Miguel Llera’s team were in control for the majority of the first half and enjoyed the lion share of the possession.
Walsall’s pressing was impressive as their pressure forced Shrewsbury into mistakes but they couldn’t capitalise in the first half. They had a great chance on the stroke of half time when Campbell cut it back for Saif Mukadam but turned his first time shot over the bar.
Both teams had early chances in the second half. Salop came close on 50 minutes when Charlie Caton shot wide before Joe Foulkes headed wide down the other end two minutes later.
After a quiet 15 minute spell the game sprung to life for the Saddlers on 67 minutes. Perez-Duah picked up the ball inside the box, turned well and smashed a shot into the back of the net to double Walsall’s lead.
A minute later, Mukadam made it 3-0 when he glided towards goal and struck a low shot into the bottom corner with defenders backing off him as Shrewsbury imploded.
The Saddlers were in no mood to let up and almost made it 4-0 on 75 minutes when Jack Lynch found Campbell with a lovely cross-field ball but the winger’s rifled shot just missed the target.
The fourth soon came though as the ball was pulled back to Taylor who made no mistake from close range.
Walker; Baldwin, Foulkes, J. Perry, Lynch; Campbell (Derry), Sharp, Perez-Duah (Taylor), Mukadam, Stephens (Allamby-John), Francis
Subs: Hedge, Sarvari, Onabirekhanlen, Simcox