Only a goal missing today, says new Spireites manager

Gary Caldwell’s era in charge at the Proact began with a 0-0 draw and he believes the Spireites are very close to becoming a very stiff challenge for their League One rivals.

Town, playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation, took command of possession early on and rarely relinquished it.

They created chances and had a number of shots from distance that came close, but just couldn’t get the vital winner.

Nevertheless, Caldwell was a happy man at full-time.

“I thought the players were tremendous right from minute one, they took the game to Wimbledon, had a good control of possession and played in the right areas,” he said.

Click HERE to read the match report

“Our wide men were a threat all day and just for the final pass or the final shot it was pretty much the perfect performance. It was just putting the ball in the back of the net.

“I felt the control throughout the whole 90 minutes was extremely good.

“We asked questions of them, we tried to make the pitch really big, pass the ball and ask questions and I think we did.

“There’s just a few things we need to work on in the final third but once we get that right we’ll be a very difficult team to play against.”

One surprise in Caldwell’s first game in charge was Dan Gardner’s position, playing as a deep midfielder.

But the man normally found higher up the pitch acquitted himself well and, certainly in the first half, pulled the strings for Town.

The manager liked Gardner’s work.

“The control was excellent, the three in midfield with Dan Gardner playing deeper gave us a lot of control with the quality he has on the ball,” he said.

“It’s a position a lot of people put defensive players in because you need to have that defensive awareness, but I felt with the range of passing he has and the composure he has on the ball he’d give us that platform to play from.

“We tried Jon Nolan there and I felt when I saw him train that he has the ability and the legs to run forward so we moved him further forward and tried Dan there.

“He showed he can play in that position and be a real danger because of the range of passing he has.”

Caldwell now has two weeks to work with his men without a fixture, a break that will also allow him to consider where he might like to strengthen.

“We’ve got that opportunity to look at the window without the focus being shifted to preparing for a game and having just come in it gives me the chance to train the players and get the right balance of work and rest to make sure they’re fully up to speed and ready to go for Oldham,” he said.

“My phone has been busy, the agents come back out when you’ve got a job. I’m sure it will be busy in the next 10 days.”