Chesterfield injury latest after win against Lincoln City in Bristol Street Motors Trophy
Chesterfield’s injury list is easing ahead of this weekend’s visit of Grimsby Town.
The Spireites suffered a number of injuries in pre-season but slowly players are returning, including Liam Mandeville, who came on for 35 minutes in the 1-0 win against Lincoln City in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night.
Assistant manager Danny Webb said: “We had Harvey (Araujo) and Devan (Tanton) back training today. Ollie Banks had a tight hamstring but he is definitely back training on Thursday. Paddy Madden is a few weeks away, Ryan Colclough will be 10 days to two weeks, so the injury list looks a bit better. Ryheem Sheckleford and Ash Palmer are the long-termers. Branden Horton (hamstring) could be potentially back in by the weekend maybe.”
Paul Cook’s son Connor scored the winner at Sincil Bank on his first start for the club.
On the performance, Webb said: “Really good. We showed a mixture of ingredients that you need to win games. We did some good stuff with the ball and we defended valiantly.”
Connor was joined in the starting line-up by fellow youngster Ali Mohiudddin, who was a man of the match contender. Webb continued: “The gaffer said before the game that they deserved the game because they worked ever so hard in pre-season. For them to help us get the win in a competitive fixture, they probably won’t sleep tonight. This will live long in their memories. It was a great ball by Ali, Bailey (Hobson) cut through and Connor was in the right place.”
The game also saw new signing Max Thompson given his debut in goal after joining on loan from Newcastle United.
“He looked calm,” Webb explained. “We believe he is the right person to challenge Ryan Boot and vice versa. Ryan Boot has had an excellent start to the season. There is good competition there.”
Chesterfield are now in a strong position to qualify for the knockout rounds of the competition, with just Grimsby Town at home remaining in the group stage.
Webb added: “For the here and now it is really serving its purpose because it is a really competitive competition. It is ticking all the boxes right now. Everyone might get a bit more excited as we go along. We all know our main priority is the league, we want to get promotion if possible, we want to be at the right end, but it is a really tough thing to do.”