Dean Smith vows to revive Walsall's season

Swindon's 2-0 stroll at the Banks's Stadium on Saturday extended Walsall's winless run to 10 games and left them just three points above the League One drop zone.

Simon Ferry's goal after just 57 seconds rocked the Saddlers, who slipped to 17th, but Smith insisted they can revive the campaign.

"We will keep being competitive and it will turn around, I'm sure of that, because I believe in the players we've got," he said ahead of tomorrow's FA Cup first-round replay with Lincoln.

"The lads know we competed against a very good team. They had to put right what went on on Tuesday (against Scunthorpe) and it was a much better performance.

"Swindon have spent a lot of money and have got an awful lot more money than we have but the good thing about this football club is we have really good people who want to work here.

"At the end of September when we'd won five out of six I said then our target was 50 points and it always is. The sooner you get there the sooner you can readdress where you're at. "

Matt Ritchie doubled Swindon's lead after the break but Smith insisted the Saddlers should have had a penalty in the build-up.

He said: "One of their lads handballed it in the box and the referee had a great view of it. Sam Mantom appealed, me and Richard (O'Kelly) appealed on the bench and nothing was given.

"He handballed it, it bounced back onto his chest and they broke and scored. It's disappointing."

And Smith dismissed suggestions the Saddlers were a one-man team with Florent Cuvelier missing for up to three more weeks with a hamstring injury.

He said: "We talk about winless runs but Flo was involved in six of those games. There's enough players out there who feel they can make up for it."