Walsall get Carter as star looks for a home

Former Albion midfielder Darren Carter was today training with Walsall after being handed a start for the Saddlers' reserves.

The midfielder played 45 minutes in the 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest yesterday as he continued his recovery after a six month injury lay-off.

But the 28-year-old cannot sign for the Saddlers this season with the Football League registration window closed.

Dean Smith is a long-term admirer of Carter, who has been training with the Saddlers this week after suffering a serious groin injury in October.

He has been without a club since leaving Preston last summer and had trials with former club Birmingham, Brighton and Forest – where he suffered his groin injury playing for their reserves.

The Saddlers were first linked with Carter before Christmas and have offered him a chance to regain his fitness.

He cost Albion £1.5m from Blues in 2005 and made 67 appearances, scoring six times, in a two-year spell before joining Preston.

Carter – who scored the winning penalty for Blues in their 2002 Championship play-off shoot-out victory against Norwich – spent four years at Deepdale, making 109 appearances and scoring six goals, before his release.

Meanwhile, Florent Cuvelier today admitted Walsall are favourites to beat the drop but insisted they cannot take survival for granted.

The Belgian ace reckons the Saddlers – four points above the relegation zone – are in pole position to stay in League One with four games left.

They host Tranmere on Saturday knowing victory would virtually guarantee safety if Wycombe lost at home to Oldham.

But, despite their advantage, Stoke loanee Cuvelier warned the Saddlers against any last-gasp slip-ups.

"Yes, with the way we play football everything is possible," he said, when asked about being favourites. "But because we played a good game on Monday (a 1-0 defeat at Charlton) people might think we're going to win the next game easily so we need to stay focused and forget about Monday.

"Hopefully we can do it as soon as possible because it would release the pressure in the changing room, at home, for the families, for the manager, the fans and everyone involved. Every player is doing their best. We're all going to fight and work together as a team.

"We just need to win games and play well. We will fight to stay in League One and every single player here is ready to play until the last game."