It’s been another busy week across the Academy with plenty of action.
Here’s a round up of everything that has been going on.
UNDER 17S
Walsall Under 17s had to settle for a 2-2 draw against a strong Preston North End side on Saturday.
The Lilywhites opened the scoring but the Saddlers rallied and turned the game on its head with goals from Kyle Moseley and Sean Timmons.
Preston levelled the score with a quality goal but Walsall can take plenty of encouragement from their performance.
Marley Roberts also featured after stepping up from the Under 15s so there were plenty of positives to take.
In their previous match a week earlier, the Under 17s emerged with a 3-2 victory against Oldham Athletic.
Dylan Thomas opened the scoring for the Saddlers but Oldham fought back with two goals to give them the lead at half time.
Walsall improved in the second half and enjoyed good spells of possession and created a number of chances.
Jaiy Leydon bagged a brace as the Saddlers came from behind to win.
UNDER 12S
Elsewhere, Walsall Under 12s were invited to a festival where they competed against Burnley, Leicester City and Arsenal.
Foundation Phase Coach Kieran Squire was pleased with how the players applied themselves and felt they gained more valuable experience from the competition.
“It was a fantastic experience for the boys," Squire said.
"They competed throughout the whole day. The first two games against Burnley were very competitive, dealing with a different challenge, category one opposition who were very physical and very aggressive so the one-v-one duels were very good and our boys came out on top in a lot of the battles and it was a really good test for them.
“Against Arsenal, in the first game, it was a very even match. We defended one-v-ones very well, restricted their chances a lot, scored a few goals on the counter attack and were ruthless in the final third, which is fantastic. Some of the quality that Arsenal had was a lot different to something we’d come up against normally in our games programme and they handled that really well.
“The boys competed well throughout the day, probably got a bit tired towards the end but on the whole, it was an excellent and competitive throughout.”
UNDER 18S
The Under 18s were also in action at the weekend as they suffered a 4-0 defeat to Preston North End.
Professional Development Phase Coach Ben King has called on his team to improve their consistency and admitted their opponents were more ruthless on the day.
“Preston are always a tough team to play against, they won the league by a country mile last year,” King said.
“They’re a strong team to play against so we tried to sit in a little bit more.
“For the most part, take the whole of the game, we did OK. Unfortunately, in the first half we narrowed them down to four chances and they took all four chances. We had a couple of chances but didn’t have a clinical edge in front of goal.
“The second half was much better. We limited their chances which was good, had a couple of opportunities on the break but couldn’t do much with it.
“Overall, inconsistent. First half was disappointing but second half much stronger. Consistency is a big theme that we need to hammer home.”
Saddlers midfielder and academy graduate Ronan Maher has been away with Republic of Ireland Under 19s this week.
He made a positive impact from the bench, grabbing two assists against Gibraltar, started against Wales on Saturday and is hoping to be involved tonight against Hungary.
King has worked closely with Maher in recent years and is proud to see the teenager performing well for his country in competitive games.
“He’s been with the first team for the entire season and played a number of games but to also represent his country in not just friendlies but European qualifiers which are extremely important matches,” King commented.
“The view from the outside is that he’s done quite well, assisting two against Gibraltar and starting against Wales so hopefully he builds on that, it’s fantastic for him.”