Dean Smith hails his Walsall heroes

Triumphant manager Dean Smith has hailed his Walsall heroes but warned they are still teetering on the brink.

The Saddlers' shock 1-0 win over Southampton last night launched them out of the League One drop zone for the first time since October.

They sit fifth bottom, three points ahead of Swindon who they visit on Saturday, after Jon Macken's second-half winner capped a superb defensive display.

But boss Smith moved to temper the excitement and reminded the Saddlers they are still in danger.

He said: "We've won a game against Southampton but we're not anywhere near out of relegation trouble yet.

"It makes no odds to me whether we're out of the relegation zone or not at the moment, I just want to climb over a few more teams.

"The safety line is the one that matters and the priority is that we're above it at the end of the season.

"We still need to win more games and we've got another big match on Saturday."

Drop rivals Yeovil and Bristol Rovers both lost to pile the pressure on those at the bottom but Smith remained focused on Walsall.

He said: "If there's pressure on them then so be it, my lads have a belief in them. There is a good spirit.

"Everyone has got a little bit of hope, the most important thing was to get four points from Rochdale and Southampton and we've done that.

"Six would have been lovely but that's being greedy, we'll take four."

It was the Saddlers' third consecutive clean sheet at the Banks's and owed much to outstanding goalkeeper Jimmy Walker, who thwarted the Saints to earn praise from Smith.

He said: "Jimmy has got a calmness about him which comes with his 500 games. I thought Andy Butler was outstanding, Jon Macken was outstanding and Emmanuel Ledesma came in and retained the ball well.

"There were performances all over the pitch and let's not get away from it, our budget compared to Southampton's is a million miles away but we've done the job.

"Our goal had a charmed life at times but I'll take the luck when it comes along because there have been times this season where we haven't had it.

"We've got a lot of heart and the lads showed that."