Walsall boss Dean Smith has insisted he isn’t bothered about the growing gap to safety – because the Saddlers are on the brink of a revival.

The manager is confident the team, who host Oldham tonight, will bag the victories which will keep them in touch with the survival pack.

They are nine points from safety at the bottom of the table after just three wins from their last 22 League One games.

But Smith isn’t concerned and believes the Saddlers are ready for a comeback.

He said: “It was seven points on Saturday and nine points now, we know the situation we are in.

“If we put in performances like Saturday we will certainly go on a run.

“You get what you deserve in life and if we keep on putting in the performances with that work ethic we’ll go on a run, definitely.”

Smith is convinced the Saddlers can survive if they stick to his passing philosophies.

He said: “It was proven at Exeter on Saturday, if we’d taken our chances we would have won the game.

“If we don’t play football we don’t create chances, so there’s no reason why we can’t play football and get out of trouble.

“I said to the lads on Saturday, it would have been a home win on people’s coupons so we had to prove them wrong.

“Unfortunately we didn’t get the result to go with the performance.”

Despite a decent display at Exeter, the Saddlers still slipped to a 2-1 defeat after errors at the back.

Constant gaffes have cost Walsall this term and Smith is determined to eradicate them.

He said: “I will address it – I’ve started to – and there were certainly less mistakes than there has been on Saturday.

“We certainly need to address the mistakes we made, but defensively we looked more solid.”

Smith is also trying to bolster a threadbare squad who have lost loanees Reuben Reid and Ryan McGivern this month, while Steve Jones has left for Motherwell.

The manager said: “The squad needs strengthening whether it be a striker, full-back, wide man or defender, we know that.

“We’ve dipped into the market already with Matt Gill and we’ll be looking to get other players in who will better our football team.”