‘We’ve got to fully concentrate on ourselves’

The Spireites travel down to the Gallagher Stadium on Saturday to take on newly promoted Maidstone United in a game that the team will have to focus on themselves, according to first-team coach Gary Roberts.

Speaking to the media, he said: “They are a really hard-working team. They have a way of playing. They look to stick to it. They’ve conceded a couple of goals.

“From the last couple of games that I’ve watched, apart from the Bromley one, they’ve done quite well. They played well at Torquay; they played well at Wealdstone and got a good result.

“They’ve got threats as every team in this division does. We’ve got to concentrate fully on ourselves.

“We’ll prepare our lads with the threats, what they bring and the style that they play. We’ve got to make sure that we are at the standards we’ve set, and we’ve got to be on our mettle.”

Chesterfield could create some club history at the weekend as they look break a record that has stood for 87 years.

Paul Cook’s side could become the first Chesterfield side ever to go ten games unbeaten at the start of the season but Roberts stresses that it isn’t the side’s sole focus, saying: “We wasn’t too aware of it until after the game on Saturday at Yeovil.

“We spoke about it a little bit this week and it would be nice. It’s not at the forefront of our minds. 

“We just stick to what we’re doing. If we get that record, then brilliant. That means that we’ve played well and hopefully won the game. It’d be nice as it has been a positive start for the club.”

Akwasi Asante and Armando Dobra are nearing returns after picking up injuries against Altrincham in August.

Roberts believes that there is a chance that one or both could feature at the weekend as long as all is right.

He said: “We’re just waiting today. They’ve been about the training place, and they’ve been on the training ground.

“We’ll hopefully have one or both of them back. We’ll have to see at the end of today. Today’s an important day for us and we’ll go through the numbers.”