Home analysis of Walsall 1 Villa 2

Birmingham fan Alex Nicholls beat his blues against Villa after ending Walsall's summer goal drought.

The 22-year-old scored with his first touch in last night's 2-1 defeat at the Banks's Stadium, as the Saddlers finally bagged a goal.

It was their first strike of pre-season after blanks against Barnsley, Wolves and Coventry.

They had fallen 2-0 behind thanks to Andreas Weimann's double but spurned several chances, as Darren Byfield hit the bar and Clayton McDonald had an injury time header cleared off the line.

But Nicholls scored within 60 seconds of coming on and reckons his 76th minute header made up for the disappointment of being benched for the first time this summer.

He said: "Even though it's pre-season you're disappointed not to be playing. I know other people have got to get games but from my point of view I want to be playing every game and every minute.

"I was a little disappointed not to start but I was delighted to come on and get the goal with my first touch.

"But my dad will be happy with me getting one over on the Villa."

The Premier League visitors survived several scares but always had a degree of control – despite the Saddlers' impressive outing.

Another strong passing showing reflected the hard work on the training ground and Nicholls believes the squad are feeling the benefit.

He said: "This pre-season we've done a lot more football-based fitness which is a lot better than solid running.

"We've done the odd bit of running but you get more game fitness from playing football and the lads are enjoying it.

"Against Coventry on Saturday and in spells last night we kept the ball well. As the games are going on we're more comfortable on the ball and, if we can take that into the start of the season, I think we'll do well.

"Pre-season is about the training not necessarily the games – especially with the teams we've played – so I think the manager looks at how you've performed in training more. He'll have a good idea with what he's seen in training.

"He might look at it and think I've done alright, who knows."

Nicholls made way as manager Chris Hutchings reverted to a more conventional 4-4-2, following his experiments with a 4-3-3 system.

Julian Gray and Steve Jones started for the first time in pre-season together, as trialist Chris Stokes was given another chance to impress at left-back and Darryl Westlake returned on the right.

The Saddlers were on the rack almost immediately, as goalkeeper Jonny Brain pulled off a stunning save from Steve Sidwell's fourth minute effort.

Opposite number Brad Friedel wasn't to be outdone though, producing a magnificent stop to keep out Troy Deeney's 15th minute header.

The Saddlers opened well but struggled to deal with John Carew all night and the striker set up Villa's 25th minute opener.

Carew powered to the byline and his dinked crossed found Weimann whose header hit the luckless Westlake and found the corner.

McDonald, Nicholls and Deeney all went close again before Stokes' last ditch tackle forced Weimann to somehow hit the inside of the post from three yards after the break.

Friedel parried Richard Taundry's low drive on 64 minutes and, 60 seconds later, Byfield smacked the bar with a free header from five yards.

But instead of being level the Saddlers found themselves further behind on 67 minutes, when Brain parried Marc Albrighton's shot and Weimann gobbled up the rebound.

The hosts rallied and pulled a goal back 14 minutes from time, when Nicholls glanced in Taundry's centre with his first touch.

McDonald's header was then cleared off the line in injury time by Ciaran Clarke.

By Nick Mashiter