First ever goal means little to Smith
Walsall defender Manny Smith has admitted the team must start winning their big games to make the play-offs after netting his first ever senior goal.
The centre-back notched the opener in the Saddlers' 2-1 defeat at Millwall on Saturday before Steve Morison's second-half double won it for the hosts.
Smith reckons his goal means little because Walsall lost ground in the promotion race.
He said:"Scoring goals is always good but we lost 2-1 and lost three vital points. We could have done with at least a point. We can't go to places like Millwall and lose games. We need to get something from these games."
Defeat saw the Saddlers drop to 10th in League One, four points off the play-offs, as Millwall and MK Dons leapfrogged them.
Smith believes Walsall must cut out the sloppy mistakes, after seeing Morison break their offside trap for the Lions' winner.
He said: "We've got a good defence but we've got to concentrate for 90 minutes instead of 80. Better teams concentrate for 90 minutes-plus. That's the difference to being outside the play-offs and coming to places like Millwall and winning.
"Days like Saturday mean days like Yeovil (where Walsall won 3-1) count for nothing. We need to pick up points from somewhere. We play well against the bigger teams, but we have to cut out sloppy errors if we want to be up there with the best.
"It's too easy to blame the defence at times. But if a goal goes in it's the defence's fault, so we have to take it on the chin, improve and try to cut it out."
Darren Byfield missed the chance to put the Saddlers 2-0 up in the first half, but Smith refused to blame the striker and says the whole team must take responsibility for defeat.
He said: "We can't blame him. He did well to get into the situation and he's saved us on other games. We went there as a team."
