Walsall earned their first victory of pre-season in emphatic style with a five-star showing against National League North side Kidderminster Harriers.
Emmanuel Osadebe scored a first-half brace while new boys Conor Wilkinson, Kieran Phillips and Brendan Kiernan got on the scoresheet in the second half on a productive afternoon for Matt Taylor’s side.
Wilkinson made his first appearance of pre-season having missed the previous two matches.
Joe Foulkes and Sam Perry were also given their first starts of pre-season.
There was little to separate the two teams in the opening exchanges as both found their feet in the game.
Both teams had early half-chances. Trialist A blazed over from 25-yards for the Saddlers while Omari Sterling’s whipped free-kick just missed the target for Harriers.
The first attempt either side had on target found the net as Wilkinson set up Osadebe with a lovely dink over the top and the midfielder neatly tucked the ball into the far corner to open the scoring.
It got better for the visitors on the stroke of half-time as Osadebe doubled his tally when he curled in a delicious effort from distance.
Matt Taylor’s side picked up where they left off at the start of the second half and bagged a third two minutes into the second period when Trialist A chipped the ball through to Wilkinson who made no mistake when one-on-one with the keeper with a composed finish.
Wilkinson nearly doubled his tally almost instantly but his snap-shot was saved well by Luke Simpson.
The Saddlers really began to enjoy themselves in the second half and started to play some lovely intricate football.
The fourth goal came after 57 minutes when Osadebe fed Phillips on the left hand side of the area and he coolly slotted the ball into the net.
Taylor made changes midway through the second half. Liam Kinsella, Stephen Ward, Ash Taylor, Tom Leak, Joe Willis, Brendan Kiernan, Hayden White, Danny Coogan and Trialist B were all introduced.
Sam Perry was the only player to start who remained on the pitch.
Taylor almost made an immediate impact but his headed effort was stopped by a fine reactive save by Simpson.
The Saddlers eventually scored their fifth after 78 minutes when Kinsella’s beautiful cross-field pass found Ward who fizzed in a dangerous low ball across the six-yard box that was met by Kieran who turned the ball home.
That proved to be the last of the goals in what was a fine afternoon’s workout for Walsall.