Saddlers Head Coach Michael Flynn has spoken to club journalists and sought to praise attacking midfielder Ronan Maher, as the second-year scholar continues to impress during his first full pre-season campaign.
17-year-old Maher, who bagged the vast majority of the Saddlers Under-18s goals during a superb individual 2021/22 campaign, has started the last two pre-season games, and entered a particularly strong showing against Coventry on Tuesday evening.
Flynn, who was speaking after the Saddlers slipped to a three-nil defeat to the Championship Sky Blues, confirmed he is impressed with the young prospect and will continue to push him in order to help him succeed.
Speaking via the club's official website, Flynn said; "He is flourishing. He is impressing me so far and I will always say so far because I will be on him.
"I think that he is definitely better through the middle and he always looks a threat, a goal threat as well.
"I have watched him take the free-kicks in training and he has put them in the top corner and that is why I was shouting at him to take the one tonight because he has got a self belief, not an arrogance and I want to try and keep that with him because it’s a part of him and he has done well.
"Like I said, he has impressed. We have tried him in a number of positions but I think that he is better through the middle because he is a threat.
"He gets more shots away, he gets us more shooting opportunities and then the through ball he has put through to Andy Williams is great as well.
"We created some good opportunities tonight. There were two crosses in the first half where we have got to get on the end of them, the block from Douglas’ effort, Ronan has hit the post; we got in some good positions at times but we have just got to finish them off."
Main image: Ronan Maher -- Walsall FC