Saddlers hoping to cash in at home

Dean Smith got a heartening thumbs-up from Walsall fans this week – and is now urging they do the same for his team.

The Saddlers are near crunch point in their quest to end a troubled campaign on a high by sealing League One safety.

Smith has breathed new life into a flagging team with five wins and eight draws and his impact has been a key feature in the revival that saw the club announce healthy Early Bird season ticket sales this week.

And with three successive Banks's Stadium games to follow this weekend's crunch clash at Plymouth, the Saddlers boss knows home fans will have a huge role to play.

"Everybody talks about targets this time of year and classically you set 50 points as the safety margin," says Smith.

"But will that change with Plymouth going into administration? The fact is you go from game to game and what's ahead of us is obviously crucial. After the Plymouth match we have three successive home games which I have always viewed as a critical part of the campaign.

"I have always thought that if we were to stay up, the Banks's would have a big say in it and that is clearly going to be the case."