Smith aiming higher after survival is secured

Boss Dean Smith today played down Walsall's survival and insisted it should not be the Saddlers' sole aim.

The manager revealed his delight at securing safety but said the club has more ambition than just staying up.

Saturday's 1-1 draw with Huddersfield – along with Wycombe's 4-3 defeat to Notts County, Chesterfield's 3-2 loss at Yeovil and Exeter's 4-1 reverse at Carlisle – sealed League One safety.

The Saddlers are four points clear of the drop zone with one game left but Smith said the club should aim higher.

"It's great we've stayed in the league and it's a success for us but it's not one we want to celebrate because we want to be better than fighting off relegation," he said, with the Saddlers going to MK Dons in Saturday's finale.

"We feel we're better than that and some of the performances have shown that. It's small margins – we're only three wins away from the top 10 or 12.

"We deserve to stay up. People can talk about how many points we've got but we're fighting against teams every week.

"We've got 47 points and the four relegated teams will wish they had that. We're better than what we have been, but we're glad it's not gone down to the last day."

Smith and the players targeted a play-off challenge at the start of the campaign after beating the drop on the final day last term.

But the manager insisted he had to aim high even after the Saddlers ended up struggling.

"My aspiration at the start of the season was to finish as high as I can. I make no apologies for that," he said.

"At the start of the season if people hear me say I think we should finish just above the relegation zone I don't think it would go down too well."

Florent Cuvelier's goal cancelled out Lee Novak's early strike and Smith revealed a half-time rallying call roused Walsall.

He added: "I said they needed to drive each other on, play with fire in their bellies because the fans would get behind them and they certainly did."