Chesterfield injury news ahead of first game of 2021 against Solihull Moors

The 31-year-old has scored eight goals in 13 games so far this season but is currently out with a swollen knee picked up from playing on the 3G pitch against Sutton United on December 8.

Denton came on as a substitute in the second half against Barnet in the following match but missed the FA Trophy win against Brackley Town last time out.

However, Town boss James Rowe is hopeful the forward will return for the reverse fixture against Solihull next Tuesday.

“He probably won’t make this first one but he has got a chance on the second one,” he said.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Luke Coddington, who has been out with a knee injury for the last year, is working his way back but may need to go out on loan to get some minutes under his belt.

“He will need some game time probably elsewhere because we don’t have a reserve team or under-23s to ease him in but first and foremost he needs to come through this two week spell,” Rowe said. “The 10-day gap has not helped him on that and it has not helped with Tom Denton either so that is the pitfalls we are going through at the moment. Luke is two weeks away, he needs to come back into the sessions first so he is probably looking for game time in February.”

On Covid, Chesterfield’s players returned to training on Wednesday after their isolation period and no positive tests were recorded and they will be tested again ahead of Saturday’s match.

Although the squad could not train together the players were given some high intensity workouts to do on their own and Rowe said their ‘base’ level fitness should not be a problem.

Finally, when asked about football advisor Lee Turnbull’s departure from the club to join League Two Bradford City, Rowe said they will not be looking to fill that position at the moment, adding: “I think we are happy where we are at the moment.”