Beast from the East fails to put Lester's plans on ice

Chesterfield’s manager planned to work his squad hard on Monday, harder on Tuesday and get them running again on Wednesday.

Neither the snowfall in Derbyshire nor the cold snap brought respite for his players.

When asked if he’d got the desired amount of work into them, Lester laughed.

“Definitely did, it was good,” he said.

On Wednesday Spireites attacker Andy Kellett revealed they had indeed been put through their paces, saying: “Most of the lads can hardly walk now.”

Lester was delighted with their effort and although today’s game against Exeter fell victim to the weather, it doesn’t mean a weekend off.

“They’ve been really committed to it,” he said.

“It’s been very positive.

“There’s a good spirit amongst the lads.

“We’ve explained what’s going to happen this weekend.

“We’re trying to get as many tough days into them as we can, you can’t do too many in a row, it doesn’t work but we’ve managed to get away with three this week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.”

Lester had his players in on Friday for a session on the pitch and then the plan was to cover it up again before clearing it once more on Sunday for a practice match.

Then it’s full steam ahead in preparation for the visit of Lincoln City to the Proact.

“Going into the game against Lincoln we’ll do back to back tough days with a rest day,” added Lester.

The manager will attend his first annual general meeting on Monday night.

“It’s important that people who want to know what’s going on, know what’s going on.

“I’ll explain where we’re at and what we’re doing.”