The Scholars continued their fine start by maintaining their 100 percent record on Tuesday. strikes from Joe Thompson, Ty Webster, Matt Funge and a screamer from Mitch Clarke saw us defeat Belper Town 4-1.

Rushall Olympic finished last season 22nd in the National League North and were subsequently relegated to the Northern Premier Division (one division above Chasetown). Reorganisation for this season has seen the signing of Ian Long as manager. With him has come players that were at Walsall wood alongside him and his coaching staff these are ex Scholars Carter Lycett Sam Unitt and Mitch Botfield as well as Jack Fletcher, Dan Jezeph (who played under Long at Alvechurch), Jack Burgess, Aurio Teixeira and Jamie Soule, who also played at Alvechurch. Also joining the club are Aaron Bishop from Darlaston, Toumani Sidibe from Stourbridge Pedro Lima from Boldmere St Michaels and Connor Armstrong from Dudley Town.

This game is Rushall’s 9th this preseason, and they will be coming off the back of playing Aston Villa’s u21’s the night before. Results so far have seen Rushall emerge 6-0 victors against Gornal Athletic, 2-0 winners over Birmingham City u21’s, beat Sporting Club Inkberrow 4-0 as well as emerging 3-0 winners over Sporting Khalsa. They hit a bump in the road however when they fell to a 2-1 defeat vs Congleton Town. This only proved to be a hiccup however as they went on to beat Stafford Rangers 1-0 and Long Eaton 3-2.

The previous game against Rushall will go down in club history as we gained revenge from a 4-1 defeat in the Walsall senior Cup final by lifting the Senior Challenge Cup for the first time via a 4-1 defeat of our own versus our arch enemies. A Joey Butlin hat-trick alongside a George Cater goal ensured that we brought the trophy back with us from The Bet365 Stadium.

Tickets for Saturday are Adults £9 Concessions £7 u18’s £5 and u12’s £1. kick-off is 3pm at Dales Lane, Rushall WS4 1LJ.