A TRIO of first-half goals proved enough for City reserves to claim a comfortable victory over Walsall in the Central League.

An opener from Dominic Poleon, plus an eye-catching double by Omari Patrick, helped the Bantams secure a 3-1 win over the Saddlers at Apperley Bridge.

Poleon's deadlock-breaking strike came just six minutes in, with the striker's shot from the edge of the area deflected up off a Walsall defender and into the net past the despairing dive of visiting keeper Brandon Ganley.

Patrick increased the lead soon after when he cut inside from the left before rifling home a stunning strike into the far top corner from just inside the box.

The same player then made it three for City with just 22 minutes on the clock. The young forward turned inside Walsall defender Sam Tonks before beating Ganley by his near post with a low drive.

Walsall pulled a goal back 17 minutes from the end when a Cody Fisher cross bounced in off unfortunate defender Jacob Hanson.

Along with the City goal-scorers, Shay McCartan, Adam Thompson, Daniel Pybus and Lukas Raeder – all of whom were on the bench for the first team at Shrewsbury last weekend – also featured in the fixture. Daniel Devine and Jordan Gibson were also in today's starting line-up.

All of the above named players, including Hanson, received 90 minutes under their belts in the second-string match.

The only low point of the afternoon was the early exit of Tom Field from the action. The on-loan left back was replaced by apprentice Jake Maltby just before the half-hour mark after seemingly picking up an injury.