'Toughest period' - Jim Kellermann confident Chesterfield can get promotion bid back on track

The Spireites have dropped to fifth in the league table after just one win in their last six.

They were hammered 4-1 at home to Grimsby Town last weekend in what the midfielder, who was suspended and did not play, admitted was their ‘worst performance of the season’ and was ‘unlike us’.

“This is probably our toughest period at the moment but we will come through it,” Kellermann said.

"We have got some great games to really see what we are about now.

"We are trying to keep in touch with the teams ahead of us and that is the mentality we have got to have.

"I think our downfall this season has been that we had opportunities when we were on top to start making a gap which we did not manage and they (Stockport) have done that magnificently.

"There is nobody in there who is not trying their best, we are all putting in as much hard work as we can.

"We have got to be concerned about staying in touch with the teams above us, looking up rather than behind us.”

The 26-year-old, who is half German, has missed the last two matches through suspension after collecting ten yellow cards this season but he is ready to attack the remainder of the season now.

“I really don’t like being involved but it is my own fault, I got some really silly yellow cards,” he explained. “Building up to that (Altrincham) game I could not believe how quickly I had picked them up so it was on my own head that that happened.

"But, on reflection, I have not played for a couple of years before coming back in and I have played a lot of games this season, so it has actually done me quite well having a little break so I feel fresh now.

"I would not say I am the best behaved on the pitch. I have taken some yellow cards which were yellow cards and others where you think ‘that is harsh’.”

Chesterfield’s 4-2-3-1 formation under Paul Cook has been a big talking point in recent weeks with some fans calling for a return to three at the back which has served them well this season.

"Changing system has taken some time to adjust to but I think we are getting in touch with it,” Kellermann said.

"It could have gone better.

“It is difficult because it is quite a transition in terms of what formation we are changing from. The gaffer has addressed that himself and said to us that maybe we have not got the right players for certain positions but we are going to have to help each other. We have got three really attacking full-backs in Kingy, Whitts and Calvin and they have all had freedom to go do what they want whereas now they have got more responsibility. So that is just one position.

"It is really difficult because when does a manager come into a team at the top of the league? You don’t see it. Everyone has their different methods of football, we are all trying to buy into it, the gaffer has been clear on what he wants so we have got to do the business now.”

Gary Roberts has returned to the Spireites as first-team coach, a role he held under Cook at Ipswich Town last year.

"He has been in and around it already, ”Kellermann said. “He has taken a few sessions. He is big on the technical side of things. I think he is just assessing the squad, you can almost sense it. He has been quite quiet but he has also spoken to individuals and stuff like that. He seems like a nice bloke. We have had a few sessions with him now and his methods are decent so I am looking forward to working with him in the future.

"It freshens things up. We are building on a new period now at the club under new management so these things are going to happen, things are to change, we have just got to get on with it.”

Chesterfield travel to 17th-placed Wealdstone on Saturday, a team they beat 2-0 near the beginning of the season.

“We have struggled against teams in that pocket of the league but we have put a few things right on the training ground this week and you will see a team we are used to watching this weekend,” Kellermann added.