'Absolute monster' - Aston Villa, Leicester City and Sheffield United loanees praised for Chesterfield debuts against MK Dons

Right-back Sam Curtis, centre-back Sil Swinkels and central midfielder Sammy Braybrooke were all announced as Town players an hour before kick-off and they went straight into the starting line-up at Stadium MK on Sunday. Curtis joins from Sheffield United, Swinkels from Aston Villa and Braybrooke from Leicester City, with the trio all linking up on loan until the end of the season. Fellow new arrival Freddie Ladapo, who was unveiled on New Year’s Day, came off the bench to make his debut.

And they all made an impact, with Curtis scoring on his debut, Swinkels was a man of the match contender, and Braybrooke showed the quality he will bring. With the cold weather causing the Blues’ training pitches to be frozen over, the three of them had not had chance to get to know each other or their team-mates and the pre-match preparation was all done with the use of videos.

Gary Roberts said: “I thought they were absolutely tremendous for us. I thought Sil was an absolute monster at the back. He looked like he had been playing for us for a long time. We built through Sammy, he was always available, he got us out nearly every time. I thought the three of them didn’t put a foot wrong. The three of them were outstanding today. They have been thrown in a little bit today, they have been watched, we trust them and they did everything what we expected.”

First-half goals from Callum Paterson and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy put the hosts in a strong position at half-time but Curtis headed in on his debut from captain Liam Mandeville’s free-kick on 67 minutes and then Will Grigg came off the bench to nod in Mandeville’s corner in the 94th minute against his old club.

“It was fully deserved, in my opinion,” Roberts said. “I thought we were really good with the ball. I thought we were probing. We threw caution to the wind, put two strikers on, and Will Grigg has pulled us out of trouble a little bit.

“I thought our bravery was there for everyone to see. We totally dominated the game. We dominated possession, we built well, we gave the ball away a couple of times but I thought we were always going to get goals. We probably lacked a bit of penetration and a couple more better decisions but I thought we were in charge of the game. I thought we were the best team on the pitch today.”

MK Dons’ opener came with Janoi Donacien struggling with his tight groin and Paterson nipped in ahead of him to prod home. Donacien could not continue and was immediately withdrawn. Hepburn-Murphy then doubled the lead with a superb long-range strike before half-time but Chesterfield showed spirit after the break.

On the goals conceded, Roberts added: “We were a little bit stretched. JD had pulled his groin and Adam Lewis was a little bit narrow and we didn’t get out to stop the cross. JD was really sore and he has been thrown in the deep end a little bit but he wanted to do it for us. He would not have played had Kyle McFadzean not been suspended. The second goal is an absolute world class goal.”