The Spireites will travel to Notts County’s Meadow Lane on Friday evening in the League Two Play-off second leg, with the Magpies holding a 1-0 advantage following Sunday’s first leg at the SMH Group Stadium.
Chesterfield missed out on extending their unbeaten run to nine games in the first leg but will be looking to return to winning ways and turn around the deficit.
Notts County won their first game at the SMH Group Stadium since 2023 in the National League.
In the Spotlight
Jayden Luker scored the winning goal in the first half of the first leg, finishing off Tom Iorpenda’s low cross.
The Luton Town loanee has featured 15 times in all competitions for Notts County this season, scoring four and assisting three.
All three of Luker’s assists came in one game, a 4-0 win against Crawley Town in September.
The Gaffer’s Record
Paul Cook has faced Notts County on 16 occasions in his managerial career, winning seven, drawing four and losing five.
Cook is unbeaten in four visits to Meadow Lane since returning to Chesterfield, winning the most recent two fixtures.
The visit to Meadow Lane earlier this season finished 3-2 to the Spireites in an action-packed affair, as Armando Dobra, Tom Naylor and Liam Mandeville all got on the scoresheet.
Man in the Middle
Thomas Parsons will take charge of this play-off second leg, assisted by Danny Guest, Matthew Jones and fourth official, Ollie Yates.
Parsons has previously officiated the Spireites’ 3-3 draw with Accrington Stanley at the SMH Group Stadium this season, in which he awarded Chesterfield a late penalty.
Last season, Parsons was the referee for two Spireites wins. The first was a 3-0 win away at Newport, and the second was away at Accrington Stanley, which secured Chesterfield’s play-off position.
Paul Cook’s thoughts
“Sunday’s game was probably a disappointment in relation to the actual game. Obviously, we’ve missed a penalty which hasn’t helped, but the game was a little bit of a non-event really.
“I’m just looking forward to the game. Football will always come down to players, without a shadow of a doubt. Tactics are important, but the big moments in the game will be decided by players, and both teams have good players.
“We’ll go there to win the game, as we’ll always do. And for us, we’ve been there before, and we’ve won there before. Like I always say, the best indicator of the future is the past. If we’ve scored goals there, we can score again.”
