John Sheridan says Chesterfield must manage games better to challenge for promotion

The Spireites opened their 2019/20 National League campaign with defeat at home to Dover Athletic.

Despite taking the lead through Scott Boden in the 72nd minute, late goals saw them go down to a 2-1 defeat against the Whites.

Chesterfield 1 Dover 2 - match galleryInjuries not to blame for defeatSheridan believes that the league will be incredibly even matched this season, highlighted by some of the weekend’s surprise results, which means every point matters even more.

The Spireites boss admitted it’s impossible for his side to play well every week but has challenged his players to ensure, when they aren’t at their best, they still come away with something from the game.

He said: “You’re going to have your ups and downs but it’s important when you’re not playing well, you win games. Saturday was a prime example.

“I thought we had a good spell for 20/25 minutes and we got ourselves in a winning position. From there, we should go on and win the game without playing great.

“That’s something we’ll have to do throughout the season, we’re not good enough players to play brilliantly every week. So, when we’re not playing well, we have to grind a result out. We have to that better.

“We can only drill it into them and hope it makes us better. We had important players missing but even so, we had good experience on the pitch and enough to see the game through and we didn’t.

“You don’t have to be the loudest players, it’s just simple instructions. I’m seeing it on the sidelines and I’m getting sick and tired on my own voice.

“One thing for sure, I know it will help us win games.”

Chesterfield are straight back in action as they bid to get their first points on the board at York Road tomorrow.

The Spireites will play three games in seven days to kick off the new campaign and Sheridan is keen for his side to get back on the field after Saturday’s defeat.

“I don’t like getting beat, but you get beat sometimes,” he explained.

“You reflect on the game and try to analyse it but me, personally, I like Saturday, Tuesday games. You don’t have time to think about the last, you’ve got to pick yourself up.

“You’ve got to get the lads up and pick the right team and think about Maidenhead straight away and hopefully we can go there and pick up the right result.”