Walsall Under 18s suffered defeat in their final EFL Youth Alliance Cup game in a closely contested match against a clinical Lincoln City side at Ray Hall Lane.
Both sides made a comfortable start to the game, attacking both ends with confidence, Lincoln would be the side to draw the first save of the game, with a shot across goal forcing Jenson Kilroy to get down low and save with an outstretched leg.
The Saddlers saw joy down the left hand side when left back, Tom Owen, and number 10, Piers Juliff, linked up well in a tight area to find space that almost led to Owen feeding Marv Onabirekhanlen through on goal, but Owen would see his pass intercepted just outside the penalty area.
Just before the half hour mark, the visitors broke the deadlock after a swift counter attack saw Walsall struggling to get back in shape. Kilroy made a good first save but a hand wasn’t enough to stop a second shot from Kyrell Wheatley.
Walsall would have their best chance of the game five minutes later. Arjun Toor won possession on the half way line and had plenty of space to run into. The winger advanced into the box but his shot was deflected and took the sting out of the ball. Leading to Isaac Allan gathering comfortably in the Lincoln goal.
The Imps started the second half brightly, winning a free kick right on the edge of the box, claims for a penalty were quickly shutdown by the referee. The travellers failed to capitalise on the early chance.
Lincoln made their early second half pressure count to double their lead five minutes into the half through Bailey Adamson sliding in at the back post.
Walsall created their first chance of the half when Toor and Cailen Beckford linked up down the right flank, which resulted in a ball being sent into the box for Onabirekhanlen to attack, but the striker could only head wide of the far post.
The Saddlers again would find joy down the right hand side, this time through substitute Antonio Cristofaro and Toor linking up in a two on one. However the attack would once again fail to cause Lincoln any real issues as the ball rolled across the six-yard box without a red shirt in sight for the home side.
Promising signs arose as the home side started to create more going forward, helped by winning the ball back in the attacking half. Left back Tom Owen, came close with a free kick from 19 yards, forcing a good diving save from Allen.
As the game neared its end, Walsall increased the tempo and found themselves on top. In the dying minutes, Owen won another free kick on the edge of the box. Cristofaro narrowly shot wide from his effort.
Despite a courageous effort and a hard fought second half, Walsall saw their first game of the New Year end in defeat. The home side played well, but Lincoln took their chances when they came.
Professional Development Phase Coach Ben King said: "We don’t want to lose games 2-0 that’s for sure, but first game coming back knowing it’s a competition we are already out of and knowing we have got two massive games coming up in Tividale in the senior cup and Shrewsbury.
"It’s good to have a game and get the cob webs out and have a game where we can try a few things out and work off that. There are a few things we need to be a little bit better at, one of those is in the final third.
"But it’s good because it means we can spend a good solid week now hammering in on those points. Same looking defensively, it took a while to get the press right. But once we got there it was much better and we want to cut out sloppy goals for sure. But, there are a lot of positives from today after conceding."