Walsall 2 Albion 0

For Walsall it was the perfect way to head into the new season.

For their visitors, well . . . suffice to say Albion’s first team players had a good night – and most of them were resting at home.

While Jimmy Mullen’s Saddlers ended their pre-season campaign with a hugely encouraging and utterly deserved victory with goals from Anthony Gerrard and Troy Deeney, Albion’s second string largely failed to fire.

Click here to see more pictures from the game. 

None of the fringe players on view for Tony Mowbray’s side significantly pushed their claims to gatecrash the Premier League party on Saturday week.

And the most fascinating Albion contest of the night – the battle to be goalkeeping top dog – ended in stalemate once again.

Dean Kiely and Scott Carson played for 45 minutes each, and while it was Carson who made the most spectacular save after half-time, it was the veteran Kiely who saw marginally more action.

Neither man put a foot wrong, making Mowbray’s decision over the number one jersey too close to call.

For Walsall the undoubted star was Jabo Ibehre, the former Leyton Orient man giving the returning Shelton Martis and the rookie Lee Baker a torrid time with a raw display of pace and power. On this form he may not bag a hatful of goals, but the big centre forward will give League One opponents plenty of uncomfortable afternoons.

With the back four also in solid form and Sofiene Zaaboub catching the eye out wide, Walsall look to be coming to the boil just in time to face Yeovil in the season opener on Saturday.

The opening 27 minutes were patchy but then Walsall’s opening goal gave them an upper hand that they would not surrender.

They forced a corner down the right and it was swung by Zaaboub to the edge of the six-yard box. The unmarked Gerrard attacked it and planted a headed past Kiely.

Carson pulled off a great block low down to deny Chadwick after he met a fine left-wing cross from Boertien in the second half.

But he could do nothing to prevent a second Walsall goal with five minutes to go.

Demontagnac’s persistence paid off when he held off a challenge and fed Deeney, who cut inside Baker and found the bottom corner.

Walsall (4-4-2): Ince (Gilmartin, 76); Palmer (Reich, 51), Roberts (Ayre, 65), Gerrard (Smith, 51), Boertien (Sansara, 77); Nicholls, Mattis, Hughes (Taundry, 51), Zaaboub (Chadwick, 65); Ibehre (Deeney, 65), Demontagnac.

Albion (4-4-2): Kiely (Carson, HT); Hodgkiss, Martis (Elford-Alliyu, 51), Baker, Tininho; Worrall, Labadie, Pele, Dorrans; Beattie, Slusarski (Saied, 86). Subs (not used): Pike, Knight, Martin.

Referee: A Penn (West Midlands)

Attendance: 4,113 (1,706 from Albion)