Jamie Grimes on Boreham Wood, team spirit and the ‘best professional’ he’s ever played with

Luke Garrard described his team as “big, strong and ugly” after their midweek loss to Wrexham, and said they needed to defend with passion when they face Chesterfield at the LV Bet Stadium Meadow Park on Saturday evening. Jamie Grimes admitted that Boreham Wood would pose a tough challenge, but said the Spireites only had three points on their mind.

“They’re one of the best teams in this league and we’ve seen that from their performances. They’re very resilient, they seem to get a lot of clean sheets, and as a defender I respect that.

“When you look at the league and see how many games they have in hand, it’s definitely a crucial game.

“They’ll be difficult to break down but we just have to believe we’re going to score and believe in ourselves defensively to keep that clean sheet at their place- it’s a tough one, but we’re going there to win.”

On the title chase, Jamie said the league was incredibly competitive this season, and that the quality of the teams in the division improves each year.

“It’s so competitive. You only have to look at the league table, everyone seems to be beating everyone, and it’s only recently that Wrexham and Stockport seem to be putting runs together. Anyone can beat anyone so you just have to try and win every game you can.

“I’ve played in League Two and the National League, and there’s not much difference. In terms of player quality it gets better every year, and it’s tougher and tougher to get out of the league.”

Jamie also discussed the club’s injury crisis, and said that it was unlike anything he had experienced in his professional career.

“I haven’t known anything like it. We said at the start of the season that we had such a good squad, we basically had two starting 11s, and we’ve really needed it- it’s crazy. If you look at the 11 we have out, if they were all fit and playing, that team alone could be sitting in the playoffs- we’ve got such quality sat in the physio room.

“You always have niggles that keep people out for a few weeks, but these are all long-term injuries. It’s incredible really, but it’s adversity that we need to overcome, and it will only make us stronger.”

He said that the team were being supported by those currently on the sidelines, and with the hard work continuing under Paul Cook, he expected Chesterfield’s luck to improve.

“It’s hard to be off the pitch and away from it all- the injured players are behind us and we’re behind them in their recovery, and we’re working to make sure their hard work off the pitch doesn’t go to waste.

“Our luck will change if we keep working hard on the small details and stay as positive as we can. You make your own luck, and before the end of the season, we might win a game where we shouldn’t win, or a decision goes our way that shouldn’t have- it should even out.”

Jamie also congratulated Curtis Weston on the birth of his child earlier this week, and said the fact that Curtis was still focused on tomorrow’s game was just one example of the positive team spirit at the club.

“It’s fantastic news, it’s a great positive for us this week and we’re all buzzing for Curt. He’s been in training as he always does, and he’s the best professional I’ve played with, he’s incredible. He’s always doing extras and looking after himself.

“He’s just had a baby and he could be at home with his newborn, but he’s just gone into the dressing room, and you can see that in his performances on the pitch. He’s so athletic- I want to be like that when I’m his age.

“We keep saying it but we have got a very good group. I’m sat here now trying to listen to you and I can hear them all laughing and joking downstairs. It just shows that we bounce off each other well and we have a good positive atmosphere at the minute, despite the adversity we’ve had, which everyone knows about. We’re ready to go and really kick on for these last few games.”