Darrell Clarke: We're getting back to the Walsall way

Goals from Caolan Lavery and Josh Gordon were enough to secure the victory, despite Brandon Thomas-Avante pulling one back for the hosts.

And Clarke hailed his young side and their rigid defending in front of almost 1,300 travelling Wasall fans.

“It was a really battling performance," he said.

“We knew it was going to be a very, very tough away game with the injuries and the suspensions that we had.

“I’m delighted to come away with the three points, I thought it was going to be a very tough afternoon, which it was.

“You look at the squad of 18, there’s seven lads that have come through the academy system.

“An 18-year-old starting, two 18-year-old’s on the bench

“Liam (Roberts) pulls off that great save, he’s come through the system.

“It’s probably getting a bit back, today, to the Walsall way.

“But we have to make sure we don’t push these young lads too early and that they keep learning and developing and they’re given that time to do that.

“Really pleased and the experienced boys today were absolutely superb as well.”