'˜It's my job to keep young players believing,' says experienced Hird

The centre-half and skipper Gary Liddle were the only Spireites with more than 70 Football League appearances in the starting line-up on Tuesday, when a two-goal lead was surrendered in a 3-3 draw with Gillingham.

Hird insists Town are performing well.

“There’s pressure on myself and Lids and other experienced players anyway because it’s our job to lead on the pitch,” he said.

“We’re trying our best to do that, put good performances in individually and do things to help our team-mates.

“It’s our job as senior pros to kick on with the young lads, give them confidence, keep them believing in what we’re doing because we are playing well.”

With the exception of the Proact defeat by Millwall, Hird believes Chesterfield should have taken points from every game this season.

He hopes that the inexperience of the squad will not continue to play a part in results.

“We’ve got a young squad, a lot of players who haven’t played League One before and they’re still learning.

“Hopefully they’re going to learn quickly.

“It’s not going for us in terms of consistency but we’re picking up enough points to keep ourselves in a healthy position so we can keep looking upwards and not downwards.”

The boos that rang out at full-time on Tuesday appeared to be aimed at the referee, rather than the home players, and Hird thinks the fans recognise the hard work being put in by Danny Wilson’s squad.

“They did get behind us,” he said.

“I can understand their frustration, the lads are frustrated and in a sense we let them down with the last goal, but they can see the work ethic we’re putting in. Everyone is working hard, giving 110 per cent.

“Things will happen over the course of a season, people will make mistakes, make bad decisions.

“But we’ll stick together and move forward.”