Walsall have confirmed that Birmingham City’s Alfie Chang and George Hall have returned to their parent club following their loan spells at the Bescot Stadium.

The Saddlers borrowed midfielder Chang and winger Hall from Blues to push for promotion back to the third tier. Despite having a healthy points lead over their rivals, they were forced to settle for a place in the play-offs.

After defeating Chesterfield in the semi-finals, they faced Wimbledon in the final at Wembley on Monday, but were defeated 1-0. Both Chang and Hall started, with the latter playing 90 minutes. Walsall will play in the fourth tier again next season.

They confirmed their retained list on Saturday, following the conclusion of their campaign, and announced that Chang and Hall would return to Blues; Chang, 22, joined in February and made 10 appearances before becoming a prominent figure in April. He scored in the semi-final first leg win over Chesterfield.

Hall was granted a loan by Blues primarily to play; the winger has had terrible luck with injuries in recent years since breaking into the first-team picture, and those setbacks did not leave him alone at Walsall – he did, however, play 22 games and finish the season strongly, scoring in the final day win over Crewe Alexandra.

Walsall said in their statement, “We thank each of these players for their service to Walsall Football Club and wish them every success in their future endeavours.”

They confirmed that former Blues midfielder Charlie Lakin had been retained, and they had also exercised the one-year option to keep another Blues academy product, Rico Browne. Another Blues player, Ryan Stirk, has begun talks with the club about a new contract.

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