On Wednesday afternoon Walsall Football Club's Reserve side played host to Port Vale Reserves in their opening 'Final Third Development League' fixture.The match, which saw the return of Ben Purkiss to match action, was played at the Saddlers' regular Reserves venue of Chasetown's Scholars Ground,
The game itself ended 2-1 to the visitors, thanks to first-half goals from much-travelled midfielder Chris Birchall, along with a second-half Kyle Rowley header for the Saddlers.
Purkiss, who has been on the injured list since he rolled his ankle during the early stages of pre-season, managed 45 minutes of action before being substituted at half time.
Following the match, Reserve team manager Richard O'Kelly spoke to saddlers.co.uk about the result, he said; "It was a fantastic work-out for us. It was just the sort of game that we want our young lads to be involved in.
"It was a competitive encounter against a more experienced side, but the effort and endeavour that we displayed was outstanding. We now need to add tactical and technical understanding when we are under pressure, but that will come.
"It was also good to be able to give Ben Purkiss a 45-minute run-out as he comes back from injury, whilst the likes of Billy Clifford were able to get game time as we took the opportunity to have a look at them in this kind of environment."
The teams were as follows;
WALSALL MacGillivray; Purkiss, K.Rowley, Holden, Henry; Kinsella, Clifford, Morris; Bakayoko, Murphy, L.Rowley
SUBS: Jezeph; Delaney, Lewis, Sangha
PORT VALE Johnson, Clarke, Morris, Jennings, Robertson, Smith, Moore, Birchall, Daniel, Kapend, Lloyd
SUBS: Boot, Turner, Reeves, Bergin, Steele
