Saltergate 10 years on: Chesterfield legend Jack Lester admits he wanted to score last goal in Bournemouth finale

He runs off to celebrate and then changes his mind, instead opting to head back to the halfway line so not to waste any time.

There is 10 minutes to go in Chesterfield’s final match at Saltergate against Bournemouth in 2010 and they still have a slim chance of making the play-offs.

He has just made it 1-1 and he might have scored the last ever goal at Town’s 139-year-old home.

But the legendary Spireites striker was not thinking about that at the time, he says.

“It was definitely about winning the game at that stage,” he told the DT.

As we know, Town did go on to beat the Cherries thanks to Derek Niven’s historic 96th minute winner but results elsewhere meant they missed out on a place in the top six by two points.

For Lester, it meant he had been denied another little chapter in Chesterfield’s history books.

“You always say it doesn’t matter who scores as long as you win but I did want to score the last goal,” he admits.

“I remember Del scoring in injury-time with quite a firm shot - he has scored firmer - it went in the bottom corner and it was great to get the winner and I thought ‘oh he’s got the last goal now’. I think I said something to him in the stand like ‘you have got the last goal now mate!”

‘Super Jack’, as he is affectionaly known by Blues fans, mentions that he scored the second to last goal at Saltergate and the second ever goal at the new stadium but unfortunately, he jokes, “neither of them matter.”

But despite being pipped by Niven he was more than happy with the final outcome.

“I think the injury-time and the pitch invasion was a fitting end to the stadium I thought and I am glad the team pulled that off because it was a good last memory for the stadium,” the 44-year-old said.

“Would I have liked to have scored the last goal? Yeah, but the last minute winner probably trumped it for Del and for the club so I am happy with that.”

In the build up to the Bournemouth game, Lester, according to Niven, had been one of the senior players who made sure the younger players were aware of the importance of winning the last match in front of a packed house at the old ground.

“I think as a senior player I was often giving that message about winning and the efforts required to win,” he said. “As you get older you are very aware of the bigger picture and what it means to the fans and the significance of these final days. I think it is important you are in tune with that and you and try to deliver those kinds of things for the fans because football is nothing without them and the best moments you have as a player is in full stadiums because it is so exciting. That would have been a message I would have given for a lot of games.

“I do remember the day coming and reminding everyone that it was not an end of season stroll to the finish line which sometimes these games are and that we had to be prepared and that we had to win.”

The Sheffield-born forward played three seasons at Saltergate.

He fondly remembers scoring in the win against Mansfield in December 2007 and his controversial chip against Droylsden in the FA Cup the year after.

“That was a funny night!” he laughs.

But despite the good times he knew deep down moving to the new stadium was for the best

He joked: “If you had seen the dressing rooms we were quite happy to be moving!

“I was very aware of the history of the stadium and how long they had been there. I did like Saltergate in the evening matches when it was wet. It was a good atmosphere at night with the Kop and the standing behind the goal. We were a tough team to beat at Saltergate and I always enjoyed playing there. We always gave most teams a tough test there.

“I felt the new stadium was the right time. I felt with John Sheridan he was building something that we were going to be competitive. I could sense what he was doing. He did some really good recruitment and we won the league the next season. We didn’t quite do what we wanted to do that year (09/10). We had a bit of a chance but we didn’t quite do it but the next season we were comfortably the best team in the division.”

Lester, who is now academy manager at Sheffield United, scored 17 goals as Chesterfield won the League Two title in 2011 and then captained the team to Johnstone’s Paint Trophy success at Wembley in 2012.

He left the Spireites in 2013 and later that year the club retired the number 14 shirt in his honour after bagging 94 goals in total.

Reflecting back on his time at Town, he said: “I loved it. It was amazing. I definitely had a special relationship with the fans. I was captain at Wembley when we won there. It was brilliant times and brilliant memories and I think we had a really good team and it makes it significant when you actually win things. I do feel that team that won League Two was a really good team. The football we played, the attacking nature, the goals we scored.”

And the support he received from the Spireites faithful, he feels, was pivotal to his success.

He added: “I had some bad games as well but getting the support off the fans in moments when you are not doing well is really helpful. When you have that relationship with them you constantly want to pay them back. It was a really significant time in my playing career full of so many good memories. When I look back on it I am really proud of how it went.”