Dean Smith: Walsall will fight to the end

Triumphant Dean Smith today fired a warning shot to Walsall's drop rivals after their historic rout of Bristol Rovers and roared – 'don't write us off'.

The Saddlers' 6-1 win over the Pirates lifted them off the bottom of League One as they scored six for the first time in the league in Banks's Stadium history.

The last time they netted six in the league was 1986 – a 6-0 win over Bristol Rovers at Fellows Park.

And the result breathed new life into the Saddlers' relegation fight and boss Smith knows it is a stand-out result.

"It makes everyone else sit up and take notice," he said.

"We still need to keep plugging away, we know we're in for the long haul and a battle but if the performances stay as they have been hopefully the results will keep coming.

"We've got to concentrate on ourselves, my target is to look at the club who are fifth bottom and attack them. It's up to them if they look over their shoulders."

Andy Butler's double and strikes from Matt Gill, Alex Nicholls, Julian Gray and Matt Richards sank the Pirates.

The win moved the Saddlers to within seven points of safety but all of their drop rivals have games in hand – with rock-bottom Dagenham having three.

And, ahead of Wednesday's trip to Notts County, Smith insisted the Saddlers haven't turned the corner.

"Definitely not, performances have been good, results haven't been so good," he said. "We've got a result and we need to build on it. We need to string a decent run of results together and it starts again on Wednesday against Notts County.

"As I've said, I feel the Banks's Stadium is the place we need to win football matches and it was a good start."

Smith has remained calm after the Saddlers' first victory in seven and insisted the result takes precedence over his first career win as a boss.

"I haven't even thought about it," he said. "I know it was 6-1 but it was just a win. You need to win football games whether it is 6-1 or 1-0. A lot of people were talking about this being a six pointer but I looked at the table and we still only got three points."