Young Walsall starlets hailed by Darrell Clarke

Despite Saddlers’ poor form resulting in five losses in a row, Clarke was able to take some positives from the Mansfield defeat, where his side turned in a much-improved performance. One of those positives was the displays from his younger players who have been given opportunities in the last few fixtures.

A reoccurring injury to Danny Guthrie has meant that 18-year-old midfielder Alfie Bates has started the last three games. While injuries to James Clarke, Cameron Pring and Zak Jules left Walsall’s selections in defence limited – giving 21-year-old Kory Roberts and 20-year-old Callum Cockerill-Mollett starts in the Mansfield game.

And Clarke was pleased with how his youngsters fared.

“When you’re working with a club like Walsall, when you have players injured you have development players beneath that,” he said.

“Walsall have always brought through players and the positive for me is we have four players on the pitch that have come through the system.

“We’ll continue to do that. We have Kory Roberts, Callum Cockerill-Mollett, Alfie Bates and Liam Kinsella out there who have all come through the system. These boys are playing against players that are a lot more experienced than them.

“I thought there was a couple of good performances out there.

“Fair play to Kory, his first competitive game for 14 months.”

Cockerill-Mollett usually plays as a left-back but was utilised on the left of three centre-backs in the Mansfield defeat.

And the youngster was pleased with his manager’s trust in him to perform.

“It’s quality, it’s what you want in a manager.

“It’s all you ever ask them for, a chance.

“You have to take it with both hands and do the best that you can.

“It’s definitely a positive.

“It’s credit to the U23’s manager and youth team managers that have been here.

“They’ve set us up to be in good stead and the gaffer has given us a chance.

“I’ve just got to keep working hard – try and keep as many clean sheets as possible and turn this rut around.”