Walsall Development side, who are managed by the experienced John Ward, went into Tuesday evening's match looking to build upon their First Round penalty shoot-out victory over Wolverhampton Sporting.
Newcastle Town
Johnson; Attrell, Stubbs, T.Van Der Laan, Fraser, Dennis, Ward, Steele, Shaw, Glover, Capey
Substitutes: J.Van Der Laan, Smith, Bradbury, Conlon, Lowe
Substitutes: J.Van Der Laan, Smith, Bradbury, Conlon, Lowe
Walsall
Rogerson; Willis, Little, Leak, Leivesley; McSkeane, Bates, Sangha, Kouhyar; Parker, Peters
Substitutes: Dawe; Flanagan, Ruddock, Walton, Campbell
Substitutes: Dawe; Flanagan, Ruddock, Walton, Campbell
As the first-team were also in action against League One leaders Portsmouth, development coach John Ward named a fairly young side with the likes of Jordon Sangha, Maziar Kouhyar, and Cameron Peters also getting a run out.
The match didn't start well for the Saddlers as they fell behind after twelve-minutes of play as a Matt Ward corner fell to the feet of George Shaw, the striker slipping the ball under young Saddlers stopper Dominic Rogerson to open his account for the evening.
The Saddlers didn't allow their hosts' goal to get them down and went about their search for an equaliser very quickly with Maz Kouhyar proving to be particularly difficult for the home side to contain, the Afghanistan international seeing a couple of efforts just clear the bar.
The teams continued to trade efforts for much of the remainder of the game, with Walsall stopper Dom Rogerson doing well to tip a couple of efforts over the bar as the home side looked to double their lead.
Thankfully for the Saddlers their attacking play wasn't in vain as striker Cameron Peters, who recently returned to the club following a three-month loan spell with Bromsgrove Sporting, went on to level the scores midway through the second-half, as Town stopper Matt Johnson was unable to keep his sheet clean.
Disappointingly the Saddlers were unable to keep the scores level for long as substitute Christopher Smith, who had taken to the field just moments after Peters' equaliser, put his side back into the lead as he headed home from Kyle Stubbs' long throw.
Smith would go on to get his second and Newcastle's third shortly after as fellow substitute Michael Conlon laid the ball off for him to slot home. Conlon, who had an effort of his own saved just moments earlier, proving to be a massive threat to the Walsall backline.
Conlon would continue to be a threat and ultimately grabbed a goal of his own with eight minutes of the match remaining, the half going from bad to worse for John Ward's side.
The Saddlers did go on to shorten the deficit just moments after Town had grabbed their fourth but it wasn't to be as the home side deservedly booked their place in the next stage of the competition.
Newcastle
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4 - 2
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Walsall
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Shaw (12')
Smith (73') Smith (79') Conlon (82') |
Peters (67')
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