Dean Smith will not curb Julian Gray

Walsall boss Dean Smith has insisted he will not curb fiery winger Julian Gray ahead of the crunch relegation run-in.

The manager had to replace Gray in the second-half of Saturday's goalless draw at Swindon when he lost his cool.

Gray had been booked for dissent and was in danger of seeing red after two fouls and backchat to the referee.

But Smith doesn't want the 31-year-old, who has been a revelation under the Saddlers boss, to lose his edge.

He said: "It's part of his game, I won't curb it but I won't risk it while we're in the position we're in.

"He didn't get sent off and it was my decision to bring him off but he was just showing how passionate he is to try to get results for us at the minute.

"His workrate has been fantastic, a little bit of frustration doesn't hurt anyone and he'll come back better player.

"We've all be out there and seen the red mist from time to time. He was frustrated and I couldn't afford us to be down to 10 men so I decided to change it.

"I spoke to the referee at half time. Julian was frustrated because he should have had a throw in and if the correct decision was made then he wouldn't have had that frustration.

"I felt one more tackle and the referee may have shown him a red, so we couldn't afford that."

The point kept the Saddlers fifth bottom – three points above the drop zone – and the manager was happy with debutant Marc-Antoine Gbarssin.

Smith said: "He'll get better as games go by, it wasn't the game for Emmanuel Ledesma but it was a good performance from all of them.

"Marc found his way into the game. He's a good player and he's trying to make passes with both feet, win headers, win tackles and he'll get better."