Spireites setting out to do to Port Vale what they did to Notts County

The centre-half, who signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the Spireites in January, believes their performance in the 3-1 raised the bar.

And ahead of a crunch game today against Port Vale – a side from the opposite end of the table to the Magpies – Whitmore says it’s important to realise they can do to relegation battlers what they did to a promotion hopeful.

“That’s the bar we’ve set ourselves now, that’s the best performance I’ve seen from us,” he said.

“We can’t take our foot off now, that’s something we have to go and do regardless if it’s a team at the bottom or a team at the top.

“We have to go and do that to whichever 11 is in front of us.

“I think the lads have realised that now, that was a big turning point in what we have to deliver.”

Key to the win over Notts was the way in which Chesterfield looked after the football, making good decisions in possession and controlling the game’s tempo.

That’s something Whitmore wants to see every time the Spireites cross the white line between now and the end of the League Two season.

“I definitely think if we can keep the ball like we did against a team at the top of the table, we can do it to anybody,” he added.