Smith dejected by 'sucker punch'

Dean Smith admitted Walsall had been floored by a "sucker punch" after Chesterfield grabbed a late 1-0 win at the Proact Stadium.

The game appeared to be heading for a draw until Sam Hird gave the home side a win which keeps them in the play-off picture and leaves Walsall with work to do to stay clear of the bottom four. Smith said: "Defensively I thought we were excellent and restricted them to very few chances and I thought in the second half when we made the changes we looked the more likely to score "We defended corners well all game but unfortunately we fell to one at the end when the lad got up above the defenders and headed it down. "I thought we were the aggressors in the second half and don't think we deserved that result. "We competed a lot better today, that was something we spoke about, and there was a determination and a steeliness about us but unfortunately we fell to a bit of a sucker punch." There were few chances in a game short on quality and incident until Adam Chambers had a header pushed onto the crossbar by Tommy Lee in the 67th minute. Jordy Hiwula struck the outside of Lee's left-hand post minutes later but Chesterfield got the decisive goal four minutes from the end when a Jimmy Ryan corner was headed in at the back post by Hird. Chesterfield manager Paul Cook admitted his team had been fortunate to come out with three points. "Football is a tough world and it wasn't a good game in any shape or form, and Walsall probably deserved a draw for their organisation and work ethic," he argued. "But sometimes you don't get what you deserve; we were the victims of that last week at Peterborough, but great credit to our players, we might disappoint in certain areas but they don't disappoint for honesty and effort and that was there in abundance. "It keeps us in that (play-off) picture and with the games ticking down now it becomes more pressurised, but I don't feel it does for us because I think we've got the ability to play and win games, and if we don't - that's the way it goes. "We never got going today, we huffed and puffed but I think it was meant to be our day today and not Walsall's. All in all it was disappointing but then at five o'clock we're so happy to get the three points because we can now look at the games ticking down and imagine what if."