'No excuses' - Chesterfield 'know what is coming' as they prepare for tricky test on Maidstone United's 3G pitch

The Stones incorporated the artificial surface when building their stadium 10 years ago, and it reportedly brings in about £400,000 in revenue each year.

The Spireites have already played on a 3G pitch earlier this season at Dorking Wanderers so they have recent experience of how it plays.

“There are a couple of games in this division that are like that,” Roberts said.

“I don’t particularly like it personally. Me as a player I didn’t like them, never liked them.

“But everyone is used to it. Some of the lads have played at this level for a bit. The other lads who are younger who we have brought in have trained on it as youth players so there will be no surprises.

"We know what is coming. We know the surface. We went to Dorking and we did okay on it.

“We will train as normal, we have got the option if we wanted to but we feel like we know what is coming with the astroturf.”

When asked if they will take the pitch into consideration when it comes to players returning from injury, Roberts added: “It probably depends on the injury.

“I won’t lie, it has been spoken about, but we will be okay.

“There are no excuses from us about the pitch, we will respect that they will be a little bit more comfortable on the pitch than us but it is just another challenge for us.”

Maidstone won the National League South title last season and are currently 15th with three wins so far, including victories against York City and Torquay United at home.

“They are a really, really hard-working team,” Roberts said.

“They have a way of playing and they stick to it.

“I have watched their games and they did well against Torquay and Wealdstone.

“We have got to make sure we are at the standards we have set and we have got to be on our mettle. If we are, we fancy ourselves to get a positive result.

“They will get right in our faces and they won’t make it easy.”