John Doolan took Benn Ward ‘out of firing line’ for Accrington draw after bids

Accrington boss John Doolan admitted he took star defender Benn Ward “out of the firing line” for Stanley’s 0-0 draw at Walsall with a January move looking imminent.

The 22-year-old former Burnley centre-back has attracted interest from a number of League One clubs and Doolan revealed Accrington were considering two bids.

“There’s a couple of bids gone in from clubs so we didn’t want to take the chance – it was unfair to put Benn in that situation so we just took him out of the firing line,” Doolan said.

“He was here and ready to play but we did the right thing for the team and the club.

“We got him from under-21 football and he’s been absolutely brilliant, it was a challenge for him to play men’s football at this level and he’s been outstanding which is why he has these suitors.”

Accrington kept a fifth clean sheet in nine League Two games despite resting Ward, although they struggled to create clear-cut chances themselves.

“I thought we were the better team and we moved the ball really well, especially in the first half – it was another clean sheet and we played really well,” Doolan added.

“We defended really well and asked questions going forward but if you can’t win the game, take the point from a team who were third in the league with aspirations to go up.

“We just needed that little bit of quality and decision-making in the final third, and who knows, we might have got the three points.”

Promotion-chasing Walsall created the best chances as Alex Pattison twice went close in the first half and top scorer Daniel Kanu’s diving header hit the bar after the break.

But they slipped out of the automatic promotion places by failing to win.

Saddlers boss Mat Sadler said: “It’s where we are at the end of the season that counts – it is very, very tight and we are competing with teams who have incredible resources in this division.

“They will go and spend whatever they like. We will do things our way and we will create a football club where development counts and means something.

“We are having another good season and if you go off what are clubs are paying, we should be a hell of a lot lower down the league than we are but we have our way of doing things.

“Everyone gave their all today, there was no quarter given – we are a point closer to our goal. You get those games at this stage of the season – these are the worker months.

“We just have to make sure we keep accumulating points. It certainly wasn’t one for the end-of-season DVD but we might look back on this as a good point.”