PAUL Smith felt Saints created enough chances to have avoided a potential FA Cup fifth round replay banana-skin at Brentford.

The Saints goalkeeper would love the chance to face his former club at Griffin Park, although Antti Niemi is aiming to be fit in time for the tie a week tomorrow.

Smith made some decent saves on Saturday, most notably a block from a close range Deon Burton effort.

But he was beaten by Isaiah Rankin and Sam Sodje as Martin Allen's men fought back for a 2-2 draw.

"We thought we had won it right at the end with Kevin Phillips' finish," said Smith.

"But really we should have wrapped the game up well before then anyway.

"We did enough to win and created enough chances, but we didn't quite hang on after the perfect start. Maybe at 2-0 we should have gone for three or four but we took our foot off the pedal a little bit.

"If we had gone in at 2-0 up at half-time we would have gone on from there, but they scored at a good time and that obviously gave them a bit of momentum after the break.

"We certainly didn't underestimate them and we knew they would give us a good battle.

"They are a good side but we are a little bit disappointed we haven't wrapped it up."

Smith, who played more than 100 games for Brentford, knows it will be a tough test at Griffin Park.

He said: "I had a great time at Brentford and it is a very tight stadium. Their fans can be very vocal."

Smith, though, says it is vital to focus squarely on tomorrow's trip to West Brom.

He added: "Right now we have just got to concentrate on tomorrow, it is a good chance to get a result.

"We are still in the hat for the quarter-final, but we cannot let that distract us from what will be a massive game in the Premiership for us." ve game in the Premiership for us."