Chesterfield manager Paul Cook spoke to 1866+ before Saturday afternoon’s Sky Bet League Two fixture against Walsall at the SMH Group Stadium.
Cook began by reflecting on his side’s late win at Salford City in midweek, saying: “I think it was great for our supporters, seeing the players connecting with them, especially the new lads who have come in, that emotion and that feeling is special.
“That’s why our supporters travel to games, that’s the reason you get on those buses. I would imagine 90% of our supporters at Newport were at Salford, and the reason you travel to Newport and have that belief to get on the bus again to go to Salford on Tuesday night is because of your love of your club.
“For us now, we have the opportunity to finish a week which started horrendously with six points, and it would turn into such a positive week for our fans and for our players, so we’ve got to come together and do everything possible to beat Walsall here tomorrow.”
Moving on to Saturday’s afternoon’s upcoming clash, Cook said: “I think Mat [Sadler] does an outstanding job at Walsall. We find it a difficult game in general; we don’t really beat them, but we’ve got to do our best to find a way tomorrow.
“Now we have an opportunity to put back-to-back wins together against Salford and Walsall, which would be massive. It would give us a real chance [of promotion] after a tough period.”
Speaking about how impactful the new signings have proven to be, Cook added: “I’m delighted. We’ve been in this league for 18 months now, and we’re learning so much as we go along. We’ve changed the full team from our National League team into the team we have today.
“As we sit here today, it’s probably as good a squad as this club’s had for ten years without a shadow of a doubt. We’re now getting everyone back fit; I’m talking about Markanday and Dobra.”
Finally, Cook praised how seamlessly Chey Dunkley returned to the starting 11 following his injury. He said: “Lads like Dunkley and Tom Naylor, especially, they’ve been there, seen it and done it, for any manager picking those players for games like Salford or any game, you know exactly what you’re going to get.
“His performance against Salford was probably just everything I know Chey Dunkley is, not just a great lad but also an outstanding defender, and we’ve seen that on Tuesday night.”
