'Farquharson, Maher and depth' 5 things we learned from Walsall's cup exit at Stoke

Mat Sadler's men held their hosts to a goalless draw, with Stoke attacker Jamie Donley coming closest for either side when he crashed an effort against the crossbar. 

Jonny Stuttle had two chances in quick succession in stoppage time, but missed in the shoot-out along with Albert Adomah, as they bowed out of the competition. 

Here are the five main talking points from the game.

Farquharson on the comeback trail 

It was a poignant evening for Priestley Farquharson after the Walsall defender made his first competitive start in 353 days. 

He played 74 minutes in total before hobbling off with cramp, but encouragingly produced a commanding performance in the heart of defence. 

His spell at Walsall has been plagued by injuries thus far, but hopefully this will be the season that he can finally show the Bescot faithful his worth.

RAM is ready 

Ronan Maher was handed his first start of the season and made quite the impression. 

While his performance didn't necessarily propel him into the starting XI this weekend, he did at least suggest that he is worth of more game time in what is a big season for the youngster.

The 20-year-old won the joint-most tackles (five) and won nine of his duels, with only Vincent Harper winning more (11) across the 90. 

Attacking concerns 

Walsall were solid and organised from a defensive perspective but there are still question marks over where the goals are going to come from this season. 

In total, Walsall have registered just three shots on target over the past two games, and have failed to score in either. 

None of the strikers are yet to get off the mark on the goal scoring front and the lack of creativity behind them is also an early concern. 

This was perhaps to be expected against a Championship side, but it was also the case in the 1-0 defeat at Gillingham on Saturday.

Squad depth 

Sadler made 10 changes from the weekend and handed debuts to Harrison Burke, Dan Cox and Vincent Harper. 

Courtney Clarke also made his full debut for Walsall after a pair of promising cameos from the bench in the league. 

Burke could very well replace Rico Browne in the defence at Barnet on Saturday and Cox also did his first chances no harm whatsoever. 

Rotation was an issue for Walsall during the second half of the campaign, and Sadler was able to rest a number of key players such as Evan Weir, Charlie Lakin and Aaron Pressley.

Comley impresses 

It was a difficult start to the season for Brandon Comley as he was shown a straight red card just 21 minutes into the Saddlers' season opener. 

He was immediately restored to the XI after serving his suspension and produced a really smart display at the base of the midfield. 

The 29-year-old was pretty much alert to any sign of danger and went about his business extinguishing fires across the pitch throughout.