Walsall Under 18s got back to winning ways with an impressive victory away at Shrewsbury Town.
Arjun Toor and Tom Cox got on the scoresheet as the Saddlers put in an assured performance on Saturday.
Professional Development Phase Coach Ben King praised the players for their level of focus throughout the contest and he was pleased with the victory.
“We’re delighted,” King said. “It’s always a tasty game, it’s always a bit fiery and it’s a rivalry.
“It was nice because it was a really competitive game but we went in and scored in the first 10 minutes with some of the stuff we’ve been working on which is really nice.
“We’ve picked the ball up in the air, Arjun slipped Marv (Onabirekhanlen) through and Marv has got in the cross and Arjun made a run front post and tapped it in so it’s things we’ve been working on.
“The rest of the half, we had to defend a little bit and it was nice because we rode the storm and they didn’t have any major chances. Even though they had a lot of possession in the second half of the first half, it was nice that we stopped them and they didn’t create any major chances.
“Second half, we were a bit more aggressive and we got the second goal from a free-kick. Will Uchenna has done really well to win the ball off their centre half and he’s lashed out and taken him out but it’s nice then that we’ve crossed the ball in and Tom has scored the header.
“Overall, the lads were chuffed after the game, extremely happy and happy with the performance in terms of that we didn’t switch off at any point and we’ve done that in previous games. It was nice to have a win, clean sheet and score two goals.”
The Under 18s have played just their second game since returning from the Christmas break.
King has been impressed with the way the players have applied themselves so far in 2023.
“They’ve been fantastic,” he commented. “There’s been a real energy in training sessions, there’s been a real intensity in terms of their aggression on the press.
“Every training session has been competitive, even through to the technical passing drills, it’s nice to see that energy and passion from everyone and that goes into the games.
"In the Lincoln game, unfortunately we switched off a couple of times in the game but you expect it a little bit but it’s nice to see that sort of work that the lads have done in January go into a big game and they performed really well so we’ve got to keep the same energy.”