BARNSLEY 2 (Coulson 2) WALSALL 0 A BRACE by youngster Michael Coulson was enough to give the Reds a comfortable victory over Walsall. Paul Hayes could have given the home side the lead twice in the opening few minutes as he managed to get free inside the area but both times failed to work keeper Bertrand Bossu. Kyel Reid and Scott McGrory then combined well to send Coulson clean through on eleven minutes but Bossu was quickly out from his line to make a fine save. Walsall should have broken the deadlock on 24 minutes as Ishmael Demontagnac managed to get in behind onto a long ball but blazed his shot high over. The opening goal finally came on 40 minutes when Bossu made a horrendous error of judgement when coming for Paul Heckingbottom's free kick and missed the ball completely to give Coulson the simplest of tap ins. Reid then should have really doubled the advantage a minute later as he pounced from close range after Bossu had spilled Hayes' shot but could not get his volley on target under pressure. Coulson made sure of the points just eight minutes after the restart when he capitalised on a slip by Peter Doran to race through and coolly slotted the ball home. The youngster could have had a hat trick on 72 minutes when he again found space to race onto a woeful back pass but lobbed the ball over the bar. Reds midfielder Dale Tonge, who was on trial with Walsall, could have bagged a goal against his employers with the last kick of the game but fired an inch over the top from Cameron Jones' corner. BARNSLEY: Lucas, Harban, Atkinson (Meynell 61), Austin, Heckingbottom, McGrory (Jarman 45), Mattis (Butterfield 61), Williams, K. Reid, Hayes, Coulson. Subs: Letheren, Potter. WALSALL: Bossu, Lyall, Sansara, Tonge, Doran, Picken, Hanna (Jones 76), Davies, Denney (Quarless 68), Nicholls (Harris 74), Demontagnac. Subs: Bentley.
