Stoke City's second string slipped to a disappointing 3-0 defeat against Walsall on a bitterly cold evening at the Lamb in Tamworth last night.

Goals from Senegal international Alassane N'Dour and former Aston Villa protégé Stefan Moore fired the hosts in to a comfortable two goal half time lead, before Charlton Davies secured maximum points late on with a ferocious strike.

With first team matters firmly in the clubs mind ahead of Saturday's crucial Championship trip to Hillsborough, youth team coach Adrian Pennock was forced to field an inexperienced side, with none of the players involved having ever tasted any competitive action.

However, despite the lack of experience it was the Potters who started the brighter of the two sides. Tom Thorley and Nathaniel Wedderburn linked up well, only for 16 year old striker Warwick Alexander to miss-time his shot at goal.

It wasn't long until the hosts mustered their first effort though, with Ishmael Demontagnac launching an audacious 30-yarder which dipped just over Danzelle St. Louis-Hamilton's crossbar.

Disaster struck for City in the eighth minute when the intelligent N'Dour capitalised on a defensive mix up to scramble the ball past the City stopper to give the Saddlers an early lead.

Things got even worse shortly after, as former Port Vale loanee Moore drilled the ball expertly in to the bottom corner after latching on toDavid McDermott's pin-point long ball forward.

Pennock's side had their backs up against the wall, and it was only a superb St. Louis-Hamilton save which kept the scoreline down to two right on the stroke of half time.

City came out of the half time interval with something to prove and they didn't disappoint. An obvious half time speaking to from the boss gave the side a fresh look about them, and the deficit was almost halved within two minutes of the restart.

Firstly, Alexander saw his rasping effort fly just past the post, before Jimmy Phillips curled a 25-yard free kick agonisingly in to the side netting.

The energetic Louis Moult capitalised on a poor back pass but fired his effort straight at Rene Gilmartin, before the Walsall keeper pounced to smother the ball from under the feet of the fast approaching Alexander.

All City's hard work was in vain, as Davies caught hold of a beauty from 25-yards which flew past St. Louis-Hamilton and in to the back of the net with just quarter of an hour remaining.

The powerful midfielder almost replicated his earlier strike for the Saddlers in the dying stages, however his thunderous effort cannoned off the top of the crossbar.

Stoke City: St. Louis-Hamilton; Cohen, Page, Owens, Vauls (Keys, 46); Phillips, Thorley, Wedderburn, Urwin, Moult, Alexander (Connor, 85). Subs: Diao-Jimanez, Vickers, Harrison.

Walsall: Gilmartin; Taundry, Smith, Schwarz, Bacchus; McDermott, Charlton Davies, N'Dour, Sansara; Demontagnac (Harris, 87), Moore. Subs: Richard Davies, Craddock, Westlake, Skeldon