Striker Akwasi Asante gave his pre-match thoughts ahead of Saturday’s fixture at home to Grimsby Town whilst also reminiscing about his time with the Mariners.
Speaking to the media, he said: “They started the season flying; they were top for a bit. They then had a bit of a bad patch, but I think they picked up lately. So, it will be a tough game.
“I spent about 12 months at Grimsby – Marcus Bignot took me there. Just as I was finding my feet, I scored a goal and then I broke down through injury.
“By the time I was fit, a new manager had come in and I didn’t quite get my opportunity. I ended up leaving.
“There are no easy games in this league. They’re fighting to get into the play-offs. We’ll have to be at it tomorrow to get a result.”
After almost nine months out with injury, Asante returned to the matchday squad in the reverse fixture back in December.
The 29-year-old has since scored seven goals and amassed a lot of minutes back on the pitch – something that he is glad to come away from unharmed.
“I’m obviously happy to be back playing – I’ve been back three or four months now,” he said. “The most positive thing for me is I’ve managed to play a lot of games unscathed.
“That’s a big thing for me. When you come back from a long-term injury, people expect you to have little setbacks. But I’ve managed to get through that.
“My job is to score goals. I go into every game believing I can score so [seven goals] is not a bad return but I know I can do better.”
With Chesterfield’s attention now turning towards the play-offs, Asante gave his assessment of the play-off race.
Asante said: “I’m confident if we keep playing the way that we’ve been playing that we should cement a place in the play-offs.
“We’ve lost the least amount of games but we’ve drawn the most as well. If we can turn those draws into wins then we should be okay. Ideally, we want to finish as high as we can to give you that advantage.”