No fear for Chesterfield ahead of trip to National League leaders Leyton Orient

The Spireites, boosted by two consecutive wins — one in the FA Trophy – after a long winless run in the league, will be the underdogs in London.

But Allen insisted: “I don’t think we have any fear going to play the best team in the league at the moment.

“Believe it or not morale was quite good before the Salford game. They (the players) had been working tremendously hard. They are a very close group.

“Last week’s win against Basford was a good result. We were the only team on the day in the competition (the FA Trophy) to score goals, which was good.

“Everyone is aware of how important this next game is to us as underdogs.

“They have got some good players so it will be a tough one.”

“We’ve been difficult to beat — home and away. Sometimes at home it’s been a little bit difficult to be creative with quality play, but we’re getting better.

“It has been good for the supporters and the players because of the couple of wins.”

Allen will have to make do without defender Bradley Barry, who picked up a head injury in training, and probably loan striker Jordan Hallam, who suffered a knock.

“Bradley suffered a head collision in training on Tuesday, which was a real shocker for all of us,” said Allen. “He went up for a header in an eight v eight game and got banged on the back of his head.

“He was out cold. That was a shock and a worry. We don’t know yet if he will be fit for the Boxing Day game.

“We’re well of the FA procedures that have been put in place for head injuries, which we will adhere to strictly.”

Laurence Maguire, Charlie Carter, Sam Wedgbury and Drew Talbot have all had operations to further hit the manager’s preparations.

But Allen said he had a strong squad, which could cope with the injuries and busy period of matches over Christmas and the New Year.

“We have got a load of players who can come in and out,” he said. “They have all been working hard at playing in different positions. They are adaptable at sliding in to different places at different times.

“We will put a team out (at Orient) which is as close to the Salford game as we can. The only one change we will be making is to replace Bradley.”