First-team coach Kieron Dyer spoke with to the media ahead of the Spireites’ Sky Bet League Two fixture at home to Newport County on Saturday afternoon.
With the recent news that Janoi Donacien had signed a contract with the club until the end of the season, Dyer said: “It’s well known that we are probably short in the centre-back position. We’ve obviously got Malik Owolabi-Belewu coming in the next transfer window, so he gives us great cover.
“He’s got pace and the big thing is that we need pace at the back. I think last season, he played more as a right back, so I think it will probably help him when we play him as a centre-half, because he doesn’t have to do those lung busting runs up and down the pitch – that will protect him from a fitness point of view.
“To be fair to the football club, because he was out of contract, they still gave him accommodation up here. He trained, he got all his fitness work done, so we’ve really looked after him well and I think that played a real key role in him wanting to stay at the club.”
Giving an injury update, he added: “Dylan Duffy will finally get to jog for the first time tomorrow, it’s still very early stages. We’re looking at Dylan and it’s probably another two weeks before we have him back. But it’s good news that he can finally start to do some kind of activity on the grass, because he’s been a big miss.
“Matt Dibley-Dias has had a successful operation. I think next week, Luke Butterfield will be out of his boot and he can start to walk without the boot, so that’s good news. We have no other injuries, so we’ve got a fit squad to pick from.”
After a full week at the Erwin Training Ground, Dyer spoke about the areas the squad had been working on over the last few days.
“If you look at the possession stats in the league, we’re top of the league,” he said. “But, it’s basically possession without a purpose at the moment for us. I think we’re 18th when it comes to crosses in the box, which is not good when you’re having 60% of the ball.
“It shows the problem that we’re starving our strikers of good service, so that’s something we’re looked at. We’ve been looking for the perfect opportunity to cross; we’re trying to score the perfect goal, but you have to put the ball in the box when you’ve got strikers as prolific as Will Grigg and Lee Bonis, and I think the goals will flow.”
Finally, looking at Newport County, Dyer said: “Obviously we’ve studied them. Their performances have been actually better than the results. They could have been three-nil up against Gillingham. They have their threats.
“We should go out there, we should stamp our authority, we have to get the three points. It’s not a must-win game at this stage of the season, but we haven’t won in five.
“We need to get that win and with the stuff we’ve worked on, we’ve looked really sharp and I’m expecting big things.”
