Paul Cook says it has been a ‘really difficult’ week for everyone at Chesterfield following the serious injury to Tyrone Williams.

The defender has had surgery after he was rushed to hospital after accidentally colliding with goalkeeper Ryan Boot in the defeat to Swindon Town last Saturday. Williams was down for a lengthy period of time, which resulted in 11 minutes being added, before he was stretchered off and taken to hospital. Both sets of players showed immediate concern for him and the medics took great care in treating him. Such was the upsetting nature of the incident, there was understandably no post-match reaction from the Spireites camp. Details of the type of injury he suffered have not been made public.

Speaking to the DT on Friday ahead of Saturday’s match against Crewe, Cook said: “I don’t really want to touch on the subject if it is okay with everyone. In due course, the club and Ty's family will make announcements over everything. All I can tell you is that he is well, he is doing okay, and he is getting looked after really, really well. That is as probably as much as I want to say on the matter. We send him all our love.

"It has been a really difficult week for everyone where football does become secondary very, very quickly unfortunately. We are really appreciative of the support we got at Swindon last week. I have got to comment on how many fans we took there and how much support the players got in what is a difficult time at the minute with our away form which has been really poor since Carlisle.”

Chesterfield and Swindon fans have both sent messages of support for Williams, who has been at the Blues since November 2021, and current and former Spireites players have also wished him well on their social media accounts.

In a statement released last Sunday, Chesterfield said: “Tyrone Williams has today undergone surgery after suffering an injury in yesterday’s game at Swindon Town. Medics will assess the extent of the injury in due course.

"Tyrone’s family are comforted by the fact that he is receiving the best possible care. They would like to express their appreciation of the support received from Chesterfield and Swindon supporters. We send our very best wishes to Tyrone and his family.”