Walsall boss Dean Smith: Michael Cain's shown he's very able
Walsall will seek to extend Michael Cain's loan from Leicester City - after Dean Smith admitted the teenager is currently keeping Sam Mantom out on merit.
Cain's loan from the Premier League side expires after tomorrow's home game with Peterborough.
But Smith is eager to keep the 19-year-old after being impressed with him over the past few weeks.
"Michael has Saturday's game and we will make a decision after that," said Smith.
"I think he has been excellent.
He has put in some really good performances for a young lad with his first taste of senior football."
Cain had made just one senior start before joining the Saddlers but has started all five games of his loan spell and Smith added: "What we felt when we saw him a few times for Leicester was right. He has done really well.
"The temptation is to keep him. He has done very well and it has put a marker down for the likes of Reece Flanagan and Billy Clifford about the standards we need."
Though the Saddlers lost the first game Cain played, away at Crawley, they have since gone on to win three of the next four.
And Smith admitted he chose to keep Cain in the side for Wednesday's Johnstone's Paint Trophy Area quarter-final win over Sheffield United rather than hand fit-again Mantom his first start of the campaign.
"I thought long and hard about putting Sam in, I think he is ready now, he showed that when he came on," added Smith.
"But Michael Cain does not deserve to be left out at the moment, he has been excellent. I think he did really well for the 70 minutes.
"As a squad there is competition for places all over it."
