Jon Whitney proud of youthful Walsall side despite defeat

A stunning strike from Chris Eagles five minutes from time won the points for Michael Brown's side who had to win to have a realistic chance of avoiding the drop from League One.

Having been disappointed with his side's display at Coventry on Saturday, Whitney opted for a youthful starting XI which included teenagers Kory Roberts, Maz Kouhyar and George Dobosn.

Scholars Mitch Candlin and Tobias Hayles-Docherty were then introduced as second half substitutes.

"I'm proud of my young players and I'm sure my chairman, the directors and my staff are proud of them as well," the boss said.

"I couldn't fault my lads my effort. When you compare that to Saturday – when I was apologising, I'm not going to apologise for that performance.

"I have got five academy products in from the start. I've got two 17-year-olds coming off the bench.

"And I thought there were some great performances. I thought Kory Roberts was outstanding. I thought Maz Kouhyar was as real credit.

"Sometimes you get sucker-punched and kicked in the teeth and I'm gutted for the young lads that they have come away on the losing side.

"But these players will get stronger for that experience and eventually they will turn into really accomplished players.

"Of course we were disappointed to lose. But we didn't deserve to. It was a wonder strike from Eagles."

Whitney watched as his side miss a number of good goal scoring opportunities at the Banks's Stadium with Kieron Morris hitting the crossbar and Amadou Bakayoko forcing Leonardo Fasan into a brilliant save.

And the boss accepts his team must be more clinical in front of goal.

"We keep saying we had chances," Whitney continued.

"If you don't take your chances you always run the risk of leaving yourself open. But I'm proud of my young players.

"There are areas to improve, of course there are.

"But it's important they see a pathway. They need to believe the opportunity is there to play in the first-team."