Walsall Under 18s picked up their first victory of the season with a 2-1 victory away at Tranmere Rovers.
Ronan Maher opened the scoring in the first half after some good pressing but the Saddlers were pegged back moments later but didn’t let that dent their confidence.
Walsall created further chances but were denied by the crossbar and had a goal disallowed late on.
The Saddlers kept going and found a winning goal in the 90th minute when Harry Manton struck to spark wild scenes of celebration.
Lead Professional Development Phase Coach Ben King was delighted with the way the players navigated their way through the match and the determination they showed.
“They didn’t stop,” he said.
“We’ve talked a lot about emotional control and keeping control of the environment around us and they did that really well.
“In previous games, we’ve conceded or we’ve got to that point and then we’ve not had coping mechanisms to deal with those situations.
“We did a lot of work on it in the week and they stayed positive with what they were doing.
“The environment for the last couple of days has been really positive and then for the lads going into the game, a lot of energy and focused on all the work we’ve been doing in training. It was really nice to see that in the game.
“We’ve had difficult games where luck has gone against us so to get that final goal was fantastic.
“Hopefully going into the game today and against Morecambe on Saturday as well that we can continue what we’ve been doing, play good football and look to take chances.”
Walsall’s next EFL Youth Alliance match is against Morecambe at home on Saturday.