New Spireite on joining Town, his watching brief so far and his hopes for a Proact debut

The left-back was signed in January, for an undisclosed fee from Northampton Town, having been told he was surplus to requirements.

He says Chesterfield were an attractive option.

“When the new manager came in at Northampton, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, I played a few games under him and he seemed to take a liking to me,” said Smith.

“All I wanted to do was play games, but I got an injury and was out for a few weeks and it took me a while to get back into the team.

“I was kind of in and out and when it came to January he told me he was going to be bringing in another left-back and I was free to leave if I wanted.

“We looked at all aspects, where I could go and Chesterfield were the ones really interested in me.

“I think the main aspect is always playing games, all you want to be doing is playing games at whatever level.

“If you don’t play games you’re not going to get anywhere.

“It was a massive plus that I knew Tommy from Barnsley and a few of the boys from being around this area.

“But the main thing was playing games and making sure Chesterfield don’t get relegated, which is obviously what we need to crack on and do.”

Smith is back in full training, having completed his first full session on Tuesday and come through it ‘absolutely fine.’

He admits a watching brief hasn’t been the easiest way to start life as a Spireite.

“It has been a little bit frustrating, I want to be playing and contributing and making a difference.

“Sitting on the sidelines and watching is not what I want to be doing.

“The boys have been doing all the right things but little mistakes have been causing a problem.

“When you’re down there it compounds it a little bit more. If we were Luton these little mistakes wouldn’t cost goals, but when you’re down there they always seem to come to a goal.

“The last three games we probably should have had three points, but little mistakes have cost us.

“We’ll come good, I’m certain of that.

“Hopefully this weekend will be the first time Chesterfield fans will be able to see me, whether it’s from the bench or a start I don’t know, we’ll see what happens.

“The injury should be no problem now, I should be fit for the rest of the season.”

It’s been a good week for the 21-year-old, returning to training and looking on in delight as a pair of Town’s fellow strugglers suffered bitterly disappointing late defeats on Tuesday night.

“I was at my missus’ house watching the Chelsea Barcelona game and saw Barnet were 1-0 up and won a penalty and thought ‘oh no you’re absolutely kidding me.’

“But my missus’ dad said Barnet were 1-1 and I looked at the scores again to see Carlisle were winning, and obviously Crewe went 1-0 up on 88 minutes but conceded in the 92nd and 95th.

“It was very pleasing to see. That’s what we needed, we needed results to go our way because we need anything going for us at the minute.

“We need to make sure we capitalise on that this weekend against Swindon.”

Whether or not the visit of Swindon to the Proact yields a debut for Smith, he concedes it’s a ‘must win’ game.

In fact the former Barnsley player says all 13 games remaining in the League Two season take on that status.

And the final month of the campaign looks increasingly important.

“We’re five points adrift from the side above the relegation zone,” he said.

“Every game from now until the end of the season is a must win.

“Picking up a point here and there might help but losing games isn’t going to help, so every game is must win whether it’s against top or bottom of the league.

“We’ve got Morecambe, Forest Green, Barnet and Grimsby all within the space of a month.

“Those games are going to be massive for us, we’re going to need to beat them.

“With the way we know we can play, having picked up wins against Luton and Yeovil, we know we can beat those teams without a problem.

“We need to make sure we’re in and around it, not too far away, and then beat them.”