Dean Smith: Walsall are on the right path

After 14 games, the Saddlers have picked up just 12 points, sit second bottom of League One and a run of three straight defeats has seen a growing number of supporters start to question the manager.

Yet Smith, who has led the club to ninth and 13^th place finishes in the past two seasons, is confident the situation will improve so long as he stays true to his ideals.

"I think you have to be resilient and stick to your beliefs," he said.

"It's very important you believe in what you are doing and it is important you stay true to it, remaining consistent in the messages you are sending out to players and supporters.

"If you start veering away from what you believe in, it is the road to ruin, I feel.

"I believe in what I do, I have a clear idea in how we move forward and we have the right set of players here.

"We have a plan how we move forward as a club. The start of this season has not gone as any of us wanted it to.

"But there is no chance we are going to rip up what we believe in just because of that."

The Saddlers host Chesterfield at the Banks's Stadium tomorrow eager to end their recent run. When asked if the game is a "must-win", Smith responded: "The important thing is we put in a good performance and the result takes care of itself.

"Where we are at the moment, we need a few points just to calm the supporters down a little bit. They get understandably despondent when you are down in that position."

Smith says he understands why some fans were critical of him for describing Tuesday night's performance at Crawley as "outstanding" – despite the fact the Saddlers lost the game 1-0.

He insists he was only giving an honest appraisal of the display.

"My mate said he heard me on the radio on Tuesday and said I sounded defiant," said Smith. "I didn't mean to sound like that - it's just a case of believing in what I'm doing and the game I saw and what I wanted to see from our team.

"You can only go out and do your best and work hard and that is what the players have done. The response from last Saturday against Crewe to Crawley was superb."

On the fan reaction to his comments, he added: "I get it, I get it totally. But as I say to people you, can't control the result.

"All you can control is the performance and if you get the performance, I will applaud it.

"If we don't do well, I'll come out and say we didn't do well."