'Hurting' Paul Cook refuses to give up on Chesterfield's play-off chances after defeat to Crewe Alexandra

The Spireites were second best as they lost 3-1 at home to Crewe Alexandra on Saturday. The visitors punished mistakes and could have scored more in the second-half despite a late scare when Dylan Duffy pulled one back.

It was a similar pattern to previous weeks, with the Blues conceding soft goals and not finding chances easy to come by down the other end, which Cook said ‘epitomised’ where they are at.

He told the DT: “It hurts getting beat but sometimes when you are in the cycle that we are at the minute, you have got to go through it. We are trying to progress as a club but today’s result probably epitomised probably everything that we are about - just hit and miss, nearly, and just not quite good enough.

“I always try to (look at the bigger picture). Every time we try to make small steps forward, it has been blighted by injuries, that is football. We have an Achilles heel of giving soft goals away, that is as a team, that will never be individual. My job as manager is to make sure that the club progresses and goes forward. Sometimes you can’t have what you want immediately.”

The defeat leaves Chesterfield’s hopes of making the play-offs looking even more slimmer but Cook won’t be throwing the towel in. He continued: “I love seeing our fan-base grow as it is. I want to deliver so much for them. I will never give in, I am not one of those people who give in…until mathematics tell you that you can’t do it.

“I want to congratulate our fan-base at the minute. As a community club, we don’t half need them. The support at Swindon was fantastic and I know we have sold out for Notts County. Points in football where we need each other are never far away and we need them now and in the future they will need us.”

The injury woes continued as Janoi Donacien hobbled off, with Cook saying it ‘doesn’t look like a good injury.’ Ryan Colclough missed out with sickness but is back in training. Tyrone Williams watched the game from hospital after his serious injury last week.

On the loss to Crewe, Cook added: “Sometimes you have to take your medicine, congratulations to Crewe. It was a good competitive League Two game and we came out on the wrong side of it. We give soft goals away and we don’t come under loads of pressure in matches. It is a trend and we have got to make sure it goes away.”