Pre-season: Walsall 0 Stoke City 3 - Report and pictures

The Saddlers defender required oxygen treatment on the pitch following a collision with Ryan Sweeney with just 10 minutes of the match remaining.

Before the incident, Roberts had been one of Walsall's standout performers with the centre-back impressing at the heart of the defence.

He was joined by Zeli Ismail and Walsall's Cypriot trialist as three of the brighter performers for Dean Keates' side.

Overall though, Stoke's quality shone through with goals from Bojan Krkic, Ibrahim Afellay and Peter Crouch seeing them to victory.

The match marked the first public outing for Stoke since the appointment of Gary Rowett as boss.

And eager to impress, The Potters flew out the blocks with Bojan brilliantly finding the bottom-right corner from 25-yards to give his side an early lead.

Incredibly, Krkic's former Barcelona team-mate Ibrahim Affellay then found the bottom left-corner, from an almost identical distance, to ensure Stoke were two goals to the good inside just four minutes.

The visitors didn't seem to be treating the match like a friendly, with Rowett eager for his players to press high and move the ball with intensity.

Gradually though, the Saddlers began to grow into the game with Zeli Ismail particularly bright and Kory Roberts impressing in defence.

And they had two sights of goal before the interval.

First, Walsall's trialist darted at goal before seeing a 25-yard strike claimed by a diving Adam Federici.

The Cypriot forward then found Ismail inside the box who sent and arrowed drive well over.

Stoke made wholesale changes at the break while Walsall, who had been expected to do the same, opted to stick with the side that finished the first-half.

And the Saddlers continued to battle well until just before the hour mark when Peter Crouch cleverly swept in an Erik Pieters cross to extend Stoke's lead further.

Keates responded by making nine changes with Liam Roberts and Kory Roberts the only players to stay on.

And the young Saddlers side then came close to pulling a goal back following an excellent passing move.

First Liam Kinsella sent Dylan Parker away down the left who picked out Mitch Candlin in the box.

And he then turned well before dinking up a cross which Kieron Morris headed wide.

Despite what had happened before it, the game was completely overshadowed with a little over 10 minutes remaining when Kory Roberts picked up a serious leg injury.

The defender went down after colliding with Ryan Sweeney and was given oxygen on the pitch before being stretchered away.

And that ensured the friendly ended on a sour note, with little goalmouth action in the closing stages.

Teams

Walsall (first-half): L.Roberts, Devlin, Guthrie, K.Roberts, Leahy, Dobson, Chambers, Ismail, Trialist, Bakayoko, Cook.

Stoke (first-half): Federici, Bauer, Souttar, Martins Indi, Tymon, Adam, Allen, Afellay (Sorensen 29), Bojan, Berahino, Afobe.

Walsall (60mins): L Roberts, Little, K.Roberts (Peters 80), Leivesley, Cockerill-Mollett, Kouhyar, Sangha, Kinsella, Morris, Parker, Candlin

Stoke (second-half): Haugaard, Edwards, Shawcross, Sweeney, Pieters, Sorensen, Fletcher, Ngoy, Imbula, Choupo-Moting, Crouch.