A young Walsall XI made the short trip to Dales Lane on Tuesday evening as they took on Liam McDonald's Rushall Olympic in what was their final opportunity to impress ahead of the new campaign.
Made up of scholars and under-16s, the Saddlers were faced with a strong Rushall side as their hosts looked to make short work of their inexperienced visitors.
The Pics began the game on the front foot and it didn't take long for the home side to grab the opening goal of the game as Reece Mitchell put the ball beyond Walsall's Zach Hedge with a floated free-kick with just eight minutes on the clock.
Rushall continued to control the contest and were soon able to double their lead as former Saddlers scholar Will Shorrock was able to get on the end of an Alex Fletcher free-kick and slam a volley beyond Hedge and into the back of the net.
Our host thought they should have had a penalty a few minutes later as Richard Batchelor looked to have been felled by the goalkeeper after initially beating him to the ball - his subsequent header going harmlessly wide of goal.
After Shorrock's involvement, another familiar face was involved in the next goal as Sam Mantom's cheeky attempt at a chip rebounded off the crossbar where Sam Moore was able to take advantage of the confusion and head home.
The Pics threatened to run away with it shortly after grabbing their third as they produced a series of efforts, with Tyler Lyttle's saved free-kick soon followed up by a Batchelor header which was well saved before Mitchell's whipped cross was just begging for someone to be at the back post.
Walsall's best opening of the half fell the way of Antonio Cristofaro, who forced the 'keeper Weaver into a save with a low, powerful effort on goal.
McDonald's men continued their spell on top and almost grabbed another goal a few minutes from the break as Shorrock forced Hedge into a superb save, the young 'keeper doing well to deny the home side a fourth.
HALF-TIME SCORE
| RUSHALL OLYMPIC | 3-0 | WALSALL XI |
The Pics picked up where they left off as the second-half got underway as both Mantom and Shorrock saw efforts blocked by the Walsall backline, the duo keen to make the most of their match against their former side.
Looking to change the direction of the game, the Saddlers made the first change of the game as Samim Sarvari was replaced by Arjun Toor.
The home side also made changes as they continue their preparations for their season-opener against Coalville Town in early August.
Rushall continued to look for more goals and saw another couple of efforts saved as both A.Trialist and Aaron Harper-Bailey forced the Walsall 'keeper into action with shots on goal.
Walsall's next change saw Piers Juliff come on in place of Cristofaro as the Reds went in search of their opening goal of the game.
Sadly, the Saddlers' next change came as the result of injury as Charlie Ward had to make his way to the sidelines with Charlie Morgan taking his place.
Zak Poskitt was the next Saddlers substitute to take to the field as he took the place of Marvellous Onabirekhanlen as the clock continued to tick towards full-time.
As the changes came so did the slowing of the pace with neither side able to grab another goal with the home side's first-half treble seeing them record a comfortable win against their inexperienced visitors.
FULL-TIME SCORE
| RUSHALL OLYMPIC | 3-0 | WALSALL XI |
| MITCHELL (8') SHORROCK (15') MOORE (25') |
|
| AT | DALES LANE |