Chesterfield assistant manager Danny Webb was pleased with taking a point away from league-leaders Walsall after a 2-2 draw at the SMH Group Stadium.
Reflecting on the Spireites’ display, Webb said: “We showed a lot of qualities that but maybe aren’t so easy on the eye, but we’re certainly going to need going forward- battling, working to the death, not giving up, defending your box, making good decisions, especially when it gets to crunch time and the whistle’s going to blow towards the end.
“We’re pleased with the outcome, because for large periods of that game it didn’t look like the outcome was going to happen, due to a lot of our own doing.
”We can talk about tactical things and things we could have done different as a team, but we’ve all said in there, the staff and the manager, sometimes you have to respect the point, respect the opponent and it’s another unbeaten game.”
Chesterfield have now lost just once in their last 37 home games, a stat that was mentioned in the dressing room after full-time. “The gaffer said that in the dressing room afterwards, it’s a great record,” Webb said.
“I think today, obviously against Cheltenham and Swindon, we took the lead and dominated, and we didn’t do that today, but we still got the point. So that’s a really good quality.
“You have to take positives when they come. The biggest positive is that you don’t get zero points.
“We were a National League team last year and we had a lot our own way because we’re a good team, teams don’t come here and roll over us.
“It’s a different level of opponent this year as I’ve said many times, and that was probably the best team we’ve played in my opinion. And we got a good point.”
Darren Oldaker equalised for Chesterfield on the stroke of half-time but the Spireites conceded early on in the second half before Dilan Markanday found the net to make it 2-2.
Webb revealed: “We were buzzing in there at half-time because we didn’t see it coming. It felt like a real nervy feel on the pitch. We were slipping and giving away corners and giving the ball away. It was unlike us.
“So to get the lifeline, the free-kick, which DJ puts away ever so well, just before half-time, you think we’ll go through up the gears slowly, but sadly we went back to first gear.
“Allowed them to score a goal – I haven’t watched it back, it didn’t look a very good goal from our perspective. So then after that it was scrappy for large periods,
“I thought obviously Paddy and Ryan Colclough did ever so well when they came on the pitch. Dilan gets another goal at home.
“But even with 15/20 minutes to go you’re looking at the clock, you’re always wanting it to wind down once they’re getting long throws and corners, because you just felt the map of the day, how it was going, they’re likely to score again.
“But I think like we showed at Bromley, it’s a little bit different to the team last year. We’re not going to have things our own way.
“There’s a ruthlessness and relentlessness in our defensive play as a team to make sure we get points, and that’s great, but it doesn’t mean we can sweep away all the negative things and things we can work on under the carpet.
“Because as much as the boys battled and worked hard, we conceded two poor goals and we didn’t have our free-flowing football. So if you don’t play great, a draw is certainly better than a defeat.”