'Nerves' - Sky Sports pundit gives verdict on Walsall-Chesterfield second leg

The Spireites travel to the Bescot Stadium on Friday night (8pm KO) bidding to overturn a two-goal deficit after defeat at the SMH Group Stadium last Sunday. Tickets have been selling slowly in the home areas but it is now edging closer to a full house. Town fans snapped up their allocation of just over 1,000 in about five minutes.

There is no doubt that the Blues face an uphill task but it was only a year ago that Crewe were in the same situation and they went to Doncaster Rovers and scored twice early on before winning on penalties.

Reflecting on the first leg, which saw Chesterfield concede twice in the first-half, Goodman, who has been at Sky Sports since 2007, said: “To say it was a huge win and a huge performance from Walsall away at Chesterfield would be an understatement. It puts them in a very strong position and it's even more impressive because Chesterfield's home record in the regular season, they literally lost three games out of the 23 all season long.”

A penalty from Taylor Allen and strike from Alfie Chang put Walsall in the driving seat. Chesterfield did create chances of their own but were left frustrated.

Speaking to Football League World, he continued: "For Walsall to do that was massive. It obviously backed up their away win against Crewe Alexandra on the final day of the season. What they're going to have to do now is preferably try to win a home game, and that's something that hasn't happened in their last six home games, albeit they've lost four and drawn two, and a draw will suffice.”

Cook has spoken about the importance of scoring first and how that might cause some grumbles among the home faithful and Goodman is also intrigued about how the game might unfold.

He added: "There might be nerves, particularly if Chesterfield can put them under any kind of pressure. Can they get over the line? They've certainly put themselves in pole position."