The Saddlers are at Glanford Park this evening...
Dean Smith will put friendships to one side when the Saddlers visit Scunthorpe this evening.The Walsall chief, who celebrates 250 matches in charge of the club tonight, played with Scunthorpe boss Mark Robins during his time at Sheffield Wednesday.
He also worked with the Iron’s assistant-boss David “Ned” Kelly – a promotion winner with the Saddlers in 1987/88 – who was Smith’s number two here for just nine days in 2013.
Smith remains good friends with the duo, but insists his sole focus tonight is on getting three points.
“It’ll be a tough game because Scunthorpe have got good players and have recruited well,” said Smith.
“They’ve had a big change around in terms of personnel and sometimes it takes time to gel.
“I know the manager Mark and the coach Ned very well – they’re both ex-Walsall players, too.
“It’ll be good to see the pair of them and we’ll have a drink afterwards but hopefully we can be the victors this time.
“They’ll be wanting to get one over us but we’ll take an awful lot of belief out of the performances we’ve been putting in.
“We’ll need to play well again, and if we repeat the performance against Crewe, then we’ll come away with three points.”
Walsall remain unbeaten away from home and can go top of League One with a win – but only if leaders Burton also lose at home to Sheffield United.
Kick-off at Glanford Park is at 7.45pm.
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