Boss praises team’s character

Following the Spireites’ narrow 1-0 win over Altrincham at the Technique Stadium, James Rowe praised his side’s performance in ‘tough conditions’.

He said: “We weren’t at the levels we wanted to be in the first half with the strong wind. The second half we came out knowing we were lacking the energy that we needed.

“To grind out a one-nil is what this level is about sometimes. It took masses and masses of amount of character to win that game against a team that has obviously been pushing.

“They’ve been in the play-offs for a long period, since Christmas. Sometimes in conditions like that one goal will do it. And I thought it was a good goal as well.

“Of course, we are delighted again. We are climbing slowly and shifting in the right direction. But what is the point in getting the play-offs if you can’t get promoted? It’s about promotion, not play-offs.”

Goalkeeper Grant Smith kept a second successive clean sheet and capped off yet another impressive performance with a fantastic penalty save.

Rowe was pleased to see another shut-out, saying: “Really pleasing to get two clean sheets coming back off the isolation periods. Again, we are not conceding many.

“It’s never been a penalty. Their manager said it wasn’t a penalty. It was a great save from the penalty though.”

Rowe made three changes from the win over Notts County at the weekend and spoke about the need to rotate players in this run and what he might do against Stockport County.

“We’ll need to use three [substitutes] on Saturday depending on how the game goes of course, but we need to use the squad as much as possible,” he said.

“I know I haven’t rotated it too much with only three coming into the starting line-up but expect the same on Saturday.”