Walsall boss Dean Smith promises his Saddlers flops will improve in 2012

Walsall boss Dean Smith today promised his Saddlers flops will improve in 2012 but admitted he has reassessed the club's priorities.

They host Rochdale in their final game of 2011 tomorrow just a point above the drop zone, after big talk in August.

Smith targeted a promotion push at the start of the campaign but the Saddlers have won just four times to sit 18th in League One.

And the manager admitted he has changed their targets following a poor season.

Smith said: "I don't think we'll finish first now. You want to finish out of the bottom four and we want to push up the table.

"We don't want to be looking over our shoulder, that's for sure. I certainly think our results will be better in the second half of the season than the first.

"You have to reassess but, when you start the season, you have to aim to finish first. When you start, your aim should always be to finish first, I don't care who you are.

"Now we will take it in blocks of five games. We want to start climbing the table. It was a good win against Sheffield Wednesday but it was just a win.

"What we need to do is follow it up with a couple of victories. We do that, we start climbing the league.

"We dropped into the bottom four but we're out of it again and now we have to push on."

Second-bottom Rochdale beat the Saddlers 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in October, but have won just once in 12 games since.

They sacked Steve Eyre after the goalless draw with Yeovil this month and, with caretaker boss Chris Beech in charge for the first time, Smith insisted they are an unknown quantity.

He said: "They will be a little bit unknown to us having a new manager and it'll be different from the JPT game, as they have got some different players as well.

"I know Chris, I spoke with him last week and I think he'll get a chance at the job. It'll be interesting to see how they come to us.

"I had someone go to watch them at Tranmere but that got called off. We've got to concentrate on what we do and match what we did on Monday."