FA Cup tie against Salford City is a 'free hit' for Chesterfield, says manager James Rowe

The Spireites head to the Peninsula Stadium to take on the 11th-placed League Two side on Sunday in front of the ITV cameras (5.15pm KO).

Town are set to be out without 12 players for the clash and that might mean they have to change their approach slightly.

"We go into Sunday as the underdog because of our injury crisis,” Rowe said.

"We want to show what we are about but when you have so many of your mainstays out sometimes you have to sacrifice your principles a little bit which is hard for a coach because you want to play the way you believe in but it is always the end result that matters.”

Salford’s form has improved recently with two wins and two draws from their last four.

"We have studied them, we know what their strengths are, they have picked up heavily in the last month so they will be in a positive frame of mind but so are we,” Rowe explained.

"The main target when we first came into this job was to put Chesterfield back on the map and we are slowly doing that and a game like this can only serve well for the club.

"We are fully ready. It is a free hit for us, there is no pressure on us, we are going away to a League Two side. They are where we want to be next year so it is a great game for us to be in and we can only try our best.”

Rowe told the DT that he expects the Blues to come under some early pressure.

"I believe we will have to weather some spells from them because they are the home side and they are in good form,” he added.

"They ask questions of you and we are going to have to defend our 18-yard box well.

"But the space left behind I am sure we can exploit in different ways and when we do get possession of the ball we need time on it and we need to have patience with the ball.”