Spirit of Saddlers a delight for Dean Smith

Boss Dean Smith today hailed Walsall's late show and insisted the Saddlers' spirit secured their Boxing Day comeback.

Claude Gnakpa and Manny Smith struck in injury time as the Saddlers stunned Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 at the Banks's Stadium yesterday.

They hauled themselves out of the League One drop zone and up to 18th after their first League One win since mid-October.

And Smith insisted Walsall's character, in front of 8,603 – their biggest home gate since August 2009 – shone through.

He said: "First of all the players want to play for themselves because it's their profession. But if you have people who want to play for each other then it's a great recipe for a good side because teamwork is massively important for a club like ours.

"It was a good performance and a good result. Unfortunately you only get three points for wins – even though people keep talking about six-point games.

"It's nice to be out of the bottom four but we've got another big game against Rochdale on Saturday."

Ryan Lowe's 60th-minute opener almost sunk the battling Saddlers before their late double blast.

And Smith added: "I thought Manny was excellent.

"I think James Walker got man of the match but Manny was superb."