Walsall's Wolves loanee Jackson Smith earns praise and is eager for more
Walsall’s interim boss Mat Sadler has paid tribute to substitute keeper Jackson Smith for his patience and professionalism in training.
The 21-year-old came on as a second-half substitute for the injured Owen Evans in the 0-0 draw at Crawley
Smith, who joined the club on loan from Wolves in January, impressed in the second period in front of a hostile home end
Sadler said: “Jackson was magnificent given the atmosphere here, the fact they had to get a point to make sure they stayed up apart from it being his first game.
“He has been brilliant in training, and is everything you want in a professional – he has been patient in waiting for his chance and took it well when he did.
“I will always put a goalkeeper on the bench just in case something happens and it paid off with Jackson.
“As a back-up to Owen he is a very good one, but Owen has been outstanding for us – he was again in the first half and has been all season.
“It will take a lot to displace him as the number one and in this case it was due to an injury, but we have a back-up goalkeeper to push the number one, and Jackson does that well.”
Smith himself praised the Walsall backline, who he said ‘helped protect’ him during the second half.
He also admitted he wasn’t sure whether a chested shot from a Crawley player was over the line, but just did his best to keep it out.
He said: “I was really excited to be out there it was my debut as a professional in senior football and it wasn’t the easiest game to start with what was at stake for them, but I thought I did OK.
“The defenders looked after me with little tips and talking to me, letting me know I was doing OK, and I don’t think I had too many shots to save to be fair apart from the one they claimed had gone in.
“It wasn’t given so that was good enough for me and I was just concentrating on keeping the ball out, not whether it was over the line when play was going on.
“I just want to play and the atmosphere behind the goal was pretty noisy in the second half, but you learn to shut it out and I managed to do that.
“I don’t know what will happen at the end of the season, but having tasted professional football for 90 minutes it is certainly something I want a lot more of.”
