Chesterfield captain opens up about 'good frustration' after scoring against Morecambe
Spireites skipper Jamie Grimes has opened up about feeling ‘good frustration’ so far this season.
The 33-year-old, who is now in his fourth campaign at the club, played a massive part in helping Chesterfield win the National League but has not featured as much as he would have liked this term. The centre-back has made just two league starts and three appearances off the bench.
"As a footballer, there is frustration and being unhappy but I am happy,” he told 1866 Sport. “It’s good frustration. It drives me to be better. I love the club, I have been here a long time and I am really enjoying being around a place that’s going somewhere. But also frustrated because I want to play football. But we have got 30 players who all want the same and the standard in training is frightening.”
After perhaps not having the start to the season that he would have hoped for, Grimes had a better day on Saturday, netting the fifth goal in a 5-2 win at Morecambe after being brought on at half-time.
He said: "I have been frustrated because I want to play but it was nice to come on and score and help the boys get the win. I want to score more goals. I was getting marked by their left-back because they were using their big lads for the zonal areas so I knew (Liam) Mandeville was going to put it back stick. I managed to get a run and jump on him and I back myself to win them.”
Unfortunately, the defender suffered a quad injury in pre-season which meant he was not fit for the start of the season but he has overcome that now.
"That muscle injury was me trying to push myself to new limits because I’m in League Two,” he continued. “I trained through the summer, we were doing triple sessions sometimes, and it just caught up with me a little bit. Being on the sideline has allowed me to look at my game.”
Grimes’ place in the side has been taken by Harvey Araujo, but the pair switched at half-time after a difficult first 45 minutes for on-loan Fulham youngster. Although the pair are competing against each other, there is no bad blood.
“Harvey has been outstanding and it is a learning curve for him,” Grimes added. “He is a young lad and he is going to be a top, top player. The attributes he has got – his pace, strength and front-foot defending – is fantastic. He is very good on the ball. It will certainly do him the world of good. I am happy for him. I try to help him as much as I can by giving him little pointers in training.”