Dean Smith insists Walsall will bounce back

The Saddlers put in a below-par display on their first appearance at the home of English football as they went down 2-0 to Bristol City in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.

Goals by Aden Flint after 15 minutes and Mark Little after 51 clinched it for City in front of a bumper crowd of 72,315.

But Smith, who will see his players tomorrow after a day off, believes they can recover as they look ahead to Saturday's trip to Chesterfield, just four points above the League One drop zone.

He said: "I'm very confident there will be no hangover because as staff and players we'll go back and analyse what we felt went wrong and put it right.

"It's a big learning curve and you're stronger for the defeats like this that you come across and yesterday was one of them. We will learn from this and get stronger.

"They're all big games in this league and it's a tough division. We'll dust ourselves down and get over it; we'll get over this and get ready for Chesterfield next week.

"The players are off today and will probably be back in tomorrow for a debrief to get the whole Wembley fever out of their system."

Smith admitted Walsall didn't perform to their true capabilities and confessed energy levels, as well as the occasion, may have got to his young team.

He said: "I was disappointed – we didn't really perform to anywhere near our usual level. Maybe it was a bit of nerves, I don't know. It could have been the occasion.

"We're normally very good on the ball but yesterday our use of the ball wasn't quite good enough and sometimes that happens.

"They're young lads who haven't been involved in that sort of occasion or playing in front of a crowd of more than 72,000 before. Bristol City handled it a lot better than we did."

Smith admitted a few Walsall players looked below par.

James Chambers returned to the Saddlers line-up after injury and Tom Bradshaw, Jordan Cook and Anthony Forde played after recent knocks.

Smith said: "Tom Bradshaw looked like he hadn't trained for a week or two. We've had a couple of players who were coming back from injury.

"Cook, Anthony Forde and James Chambers had all been injured in recent weeks, so we probably weren't at our energetic best by any stretch of the imagination.

"Our use of the ball wasn't as good as theirs and because of that, we lost.

"It's too early to say whether there are any regrets – I'm sure the lads will analyse their own performances and some of them will be disappointed.

"We didn't get started for 10 to 15 minutes and when we did, our final ball wasn't as good as it should have been.

"We always knew that height would be a factor and they're a big, strong team."

Around 30,000 fans cheered on Walsall and Smith praised the levels of support.

He said: "They were brilliant, fantastic. It was great to see so many of them there and they would have had a really enjoyable day up to about quarter past five!

"I was very proud of the achievement in getting to a Wembley final but just disappointed with the result."

Smith admitted there may have been a foul by scorer Flint on Saddlers defender Paul Downing for the first goal.

He said: "I haven't seen the replay back again but it looked as if he (Aden Flint) climbed on him (Paul Downing). But that's by the by."