Walsall manager Dean Smith spoke to BBC Radio West Midlands after his side's 1-1 League One draw against Carlisle at Brunton Park, Smith suggesting it was a fair result:
“We thoroughly deserved a point, we weren’t anywhere near how we can play in the first-half. We kept the ball for long periods but didn’t really look like penetrating, and the ball movement was too slow, the tempo was too slow and we were taking too many touches. We spoke to the players about it at half-time and we had to get into them a little bit because I didn’t want it just to be travelling home for three and a half hours on the back of a game that drifted away.
“The players did something about it to be fair, they played with a much brighter tempo second-half, moved the ball quicker and we thoroughly deserved the point at least. I am really pleased for Michael Ngoo to get his goal as well because he has worked so hard and he had an awful lot of chances in his first few games and he was the first to admit that it hasn’t gone as swimmingly as he would have liked.
“But, he has got off the mark and that is important for him and I am really pleased for him because he is a pleasure to work with, he works really hard and he has deserved that goal. He was disappointed that he wasn’t starting, I decided to put James McQuilkin in, we played with Michael wide left last week and I just wanted to have another look at the partnership with Febian Brandy and Romaine Sawyers.
“But, he has got on, he has earned his goal and what it does show is that the bot has got a lot of heart. He is a good character and it was his first overnight trip with us and he actually gave one of the best performances in singing that I have actually seen from the lads all season, and Amadou Bakayoko as well backed that up."
“We are not in holiday mode yet, there are points to play for, there are bonuses to play for, there are the supporters who have travelled all the way up here to play for and there is personal pride to play for. So, there is an awful lot as well as points that you are playing for every week and we never lose sight of that. I believe that I have got the right group of players in here with those characteristics and that is what I expect of them.
“Richard O’Donnell was really unlucky for their goal, he got a touch on it and it hit the post and hit his back and it will probably go down as an own goal as well. To be fair it was a super finish from Liam Noble as it came back to him, I felt we could have defended it better. We knew that we had to nullify the threat of Gary Madine and second balls around him and we didn’t do that well enough in the first-half. I thought in the second-half Andy Butler and Paul Downing were magnificent and that helped the team get on the front foot.
“It was a debut for Kieron Morris, he is a bright lad, got great technical ability and it was a good ball in for the goal. He put two really good corners in to be honest and he has scored a number of goals for the reserves. So, it was a chance to give him an opportunity and have a look at him with regards to the future, and he didn’t do himself any harm at all.
“Milan Lalkovic came back from Chelsea to train yesterday, he is fully fit now but he had had a couple of days intensive treatment and work and I just felt that it wasn’t right to bring him with us as the game would come too soon. So, he has been in this morning training with Dean Holden and the other lads at the ground. He will be off tomorrow to recover and then back in on Sunday to get ready for the game against Gillingham where we hope we can put in a performance and get the result for the supporters.”