Dean Smith: It's make or break time

Boss Dean Smith today admitted Walsall's relentless run will make or break their season.

The manager reckons the Saddlers can pull away from the drop zone as they prepare for their fixture onslaught.

They face seven games in 26 days after the big freeze, starting at Oldham tonight, in their fight against the League One drop.

Walsall are in the relegation zone just a point behind fifth-bottom Wycombe, with two games in hand, and Smith knows it is crunch time.

"The thing is now there are a lot of games coming up so you can quickly go on a run and climb the table," he said. "You have no time to relax at all because the games are coming thick and fast.

"It's massively important we go on a run and get some wins. If you win one and lose one you've got one more point than if you draw both of them so we'll be going out to win. What we want to do is start climbing out of it. You see Exeter getting a good result against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday (2-1) with two free-kicks and making a bit of a gap. If we win tonight that gap closes up and you start looking at the teams above you. You can only control your results and that's what we're looking to do."

Crocked duo Jimmy Walker and Jon Macken are out of the Boundary Park clash with hamstring injuries.

But Smith insisted they could return to training ahead of back-to-back showdowns with relegation rivals Wycombe on Saturday and Scunthorpe next Tuesday.

He said: "They won't be ready, hopefully they'll be ready for Saturday so the postponements have given them extra time which is good, in terms of us having a fully fit squad for the weekend, but tonight will be too soon."

And Oldham, whose game at Brentford on Saturday was postponed, are confident of getting tonight's match on.

The Latics appealed for fans to help them clear snow off the pitch over the weekend and expect to play.

Smith added: "We were on grass yesterday for the first time in a while and hopefully the game will be OK to play. It's what we want and it's what Oldham want."