Walsall Under-18s returned to action on Tuesday morning they played host to Shrewsbury Town in their latest EFL Youth Alliance - North West outing of the season.The young Saddlers' Alliance campaign hasn't exactly gone to plan, winning just two of their fifteen outings, including a recent 1-0 defeat to Salford City, the Reds had it all to do if they were to avoid another loss when they welcomed the Shrews to Ray Hall Lane.
WALSALL TEAM
Barrett; Bennett, Poskitt, Chakki, Cox, Straw, Beckford, Thomas, Wragg, Preece, Leydon
Substitutes: Kilroy; Webb, Roberts, Wilkes, Teesdale
Walsall started the game well and deservedly took the lead with less than ten minutes on the clock as hot prospects Charlie Wragg and Jaiy Leydon combined to see the latter slip the ball over the line.
Youngsters Wragg and Leydon have been a bright spark in an otherwise dull campaign for the Academy and will no doubt have pleased their coaches with a well-worked goal to give their side the lead over the team from across the border.
The second half saw the usual raft of changes with the Saddlers seeing fit to replace goalkeeper George Barrett with Jenson Kilroy at the break before Stan Straw was replaced by Kobe Wilkes early in the half.
Walsall continued to prod and probe for openings and were once again rewarded as Linton Chakki doubled his side's lead shortly after the hour mark with a header from a Saddlers corner, the midfielder doing well to break free from the meleé to head home.
After doubling their lead, the Saddlers looked to protect their advantage as they made more changes with Cailen Beckford and goalscorer Linton Chakki replacing Marley Roberts and Louie Webb.
The changes didn't quite have the desired effect as substitute Marley Roberts picked up two bookings in just nine minutes as he was shown a red card, reducing his side to ten men.
The visitors made the most of their man advantage and not only halved the Saddlers' lead in second-half stoppage time but went on to level the scores in the dying stages of the contest.
A disappointing result for the Saddlers as their lead evaporated late in the game, Roberts' dismissal costing the team dearly. Back to the drawing board for the young Saddlers
| LEYDON (9') CHAKKI (63') |
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| AT | RAY HALL LANE |