'˜Muggs' has more in his locker than a long throw, says Allen

The defender, playing under the guise of ‘trialist,’ has featured for the Spireites in pre-season friendlies at Boston United, Gainsborough Trinity and Nuneaton.

He played again last night against Wigan in the latter stages of the game, this time as ‘A. Trialist.’

But there’s little mistaking the son of Chesterfield’s goalkeeping coach Carl, not least because he can hurl the ball onto the penalty spot and cause mayhem in defences.

On Saturday, his throw led directly to a Town goal.

Against Wigan it caused chaos in the box more than once.

Allen says there’s more to the 22-year-old than his set-piece party trick.

“The value of his long throw, anyone can see it’s valuable to have that in your locker as another weapon,” he said.

“(But) you can see what you get with him, in the last 20 minutes of any game he’s a key and important player for winning football matches, protecting leads,.

“He’s a good player to have in your team when you’re protecting a lead.

“He’s tidy on his left foot.”

Allen was the man to hand Muggleton his Football League debut at Gillingham in 2013 and subsequently signed him for both Barnet and Eastleigh.

The manager says the past 18 months, at York City and Boston United, haven’t been overly fruitful for Muggleton, but he’s improved his conditioning this summer .

“He’s got himself much fitter,” said Allen.

“The past couple of seasons have been tough with not really playing and he hasn’t really kept himself in good shape but he’s come into pre-season in great shape.”