Dean Smith: Walsall will cope up top in cup
Walsall's hopes of progressing to the last four of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy do not hinge on leading scorer Tom Bradshaw, according to manager Dean Smith.
Smith believes his side can beat Rovers in tonight's last-eight clash at Prenton Park without Bradshaw, even though the nine-goal striker is back in the squad after injury.
Bradshaw is set to travel to the Wirral but Smith hinted he might start the game on the substitutes' bench after almost a month out with a hamstring problem.
Smith said: "It will be a boost to have Tom available but we have played well without Tom.
"We probably haven't taken the chances that we've created but we've had a good run of form without him with the exception of the Shrewsbury cup game.
"The performances have been really good when Tom has been out and we feel we should have won all of those games with the chances we created."
Meanwhile, midfielder Sam Mantom is set for an injection in his troublesome knee injury later this week and hopes to be back in action by the start of January.
The reigning player of the season has not started a game all season but scans last week diagnosed the problem and the Saddlers hope a hormone injection can help cure it.
"It's been a frustrating one for the team, myself as a manager and Sam as a player, but we feel we're getting to the bottom of it now," said Smith.
"He had a scan last week with dye injected into it and we feel we've got to the root cause."
