Paterson: Saddlers can show no mercy

Jamie Paterson today insisted Walsall must cash in on Exeter's plight to save their own skins.

The Saddlers go to the Grecians on Saturday knowing victory could all but seal League One safety and also relegate their hosts.

Second-from-bottom Exeter are eight points from safety with just nine to play for and defeat would send them down to League Two. And Paterson wants the sixth-from-bottom Saddlers, three points above the drop zone, to take advantage of the St James' Park trouble to ensure survival.

"There'll be a little doom and gloom around the place so we can get three points and stay up there," said the three-goal winger.

"We need to capitalise on that – you need to capitalise on anything you can at this stage of the season. We want to go there and prove why we want to stay in League One and why they are probably going down to League Two. We want to be confident and get three points."

And the 20-year-old insisted the Saddlers owe Exeter after they lost 2-1 in the league but knocked the Grecians out of the FA Cup after a replay in November.

He said: "We've played them three times this season and we haven't played well any time, apart from when we were there in the FA Cup (a 1-1 draw) and conceded in the last minute. Even then we didn't played well, so we owe them."

Exeter finished eighth last season – a point adrift of the play-offs – but lost key men Matt Taylor to Charlton and Ryan Harley, when he returned to Swansea after his loan expired, in the summer.

They have won just once in their last 11 games and Paterson insisted their position highlights how close the division is. He said: "It shows the difference between the top and bottom of League One and how there isn't a massive gap.

"If you get caught on a bad run and there's doom and gloom around the place, you can't get the results. Before you know it it's the end of the season and you're down there.

"Look at Carlisle and Notts County – they're going for the play-offs but aren't much bigger clubs than us. Why can't we push on next season and start finishing in the top half?"