Walsall manager Darrell Clarke spoke to the press following the Saddlers' EFL Trophy bonus point victory over Bristol Rovers and praised his team for their hard work and dedication.
The Saddlers faced their second cup outing in four days after losing in a penalty shoot-out to Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup at the weekend and, with the 2020/21 League Two campaign set to get underway on Saturday, the manager made the most of the opportunity to ring the changes.
Handing full debuts to Hayden White, George Nurse and Emmanuel Osadebe, the manager also gave recent signing Jack Rose his first start since he returned to the club on a permanent basis last week, whilst Rory Holden was a second-half substitute.
Despite making multiple changes to his side Clarke was pleased with his team's desire and went on to praise not only the three newest arrivals but the team as a whole as they were able to secure the bonus point after the match ended two-all in normal time.
Speaking to the assembled media, Darrell said; "I’m pleased. I have three lads making their debut and they’ve only trained two or three days with us.
"Yet again the work rate, application. A little bit sloppy at times and I’m a bit disappointed with the two goals.
"The lads gave me everything and I thought we played some good stuff at times - mixed our game up quite well and pleased to win it on pens.
"I like my teams to epitomise what I’m all about, never giving in, work rate, desire. I thought we showed that and showed it Saturday.
"Bear in mind we’ve had a real tough game Saturday against a Championship team and spent a lot of time with the ball. The energy levels yet again were very good."