Walsall Under-18s made their way to Alfreton Town's Impact Arena on Tuesday evening as they took on Chesterfield U18s in the First Round of the 2024/25 FA Youth Cup.Going into the game on the back of successive three-all draws in the Youth Alliance, the young Saddlers were looking to add a win to their account as they took on the Spireites in Derbyshire.
CHESTERFIELD TEAM
Everest-Wilcock; Smith, Wainman, McKernan, Bointon, Whitney, Brassey, Ward, Pawson, Reah, Gill
Substitutes: Buxton, Pucci, Hardy, White, Hague, Weaver, Stringer
WALSALL TEAM
Kilroy, Bennett, Owen, Wilkes, Pawlowski, Straw, Webb, Makavore, Wragg, Etheridge, Leydon
Substitutes: Barber; Harris, Beckford, Roberts, Hetheridge, Nash, Teesdale
From a Walsall perspective, there was little in the way of goal-mouth action in the opening half of the game with the Saddlers' best opportunity coming after Charlie Wragg and Jaiy Leydon combined for the latter to send a backheel close to the home goal.
Charlie Wragg was also involved in the Saddlers' second shot of note as he fired an effort in on goal from the edge of the Chesterfield area, though nothing came of his shot as the scores remained tied.
The home side created several opportunities of their own but had to remain patient as Jenson Kilroy remained resilient with the game ultimately going to extra time as neither side was able to break the deadlock in normal time.
Frustratingly for the Saddlers, it was the Spireites who would eventually go on to open the scoring as, with nineteen of the 30-minute extra-time played, substitute Will Pucci got the better of the Walsall backline to send his side through to the Second Round.
A disappointing result for Walsall as they exit the competition at the first time of asking. They'll be back in action this weekend when focus returns to the Youth Alliance.
| PUCCI (109') | |
| REFEREE | SAMUEL WRIGHT |
| AT | IMPACT ARENA |