Why 'frustrated' Paul Cook was 'a bit disappointed' with some Chesterfield fans after draw with Cheltenham Town

Dilan Markanday gave Chesterfield the lead on 27 minutes but the Robins equalised just after half-time through Arkell Jude-Boyd.

Both sides had chances to win it but Town, who dominated possession, were left frustrated, recording their third 1-1 home draw of the season.

Cook said: “I am disappointed with the result. It was a frustrating afternoon for long spells.

"A little bit of a disappointing thing for me is just the crowd reaction late on in the game, I have got to say. We have got lads like Kane Drummond and Jenson Metcalfe, and these are young kids. We are chopping and changing at the end getting Paddy Madden on for 10-15 minutes and Ryan Colclough. The reaction at the end to Chey (Dunkley) making a couple of mistakes, I was really disappointed, I have got to say, because Chey was brought in to defend the box and be strong and aggressive, he wasn’t brought in to dictate play. I am a bit disappointed that our fans never stayed with us for a full length of time.

"We are unbeaten at home this season, it’s not the best record in the world, but it’s our record. Late on we should be full of encouragement, energy and life. We have got to give our players confidence and belief. We are a possession-based team who try and play. So when teams like Cheltenham come with a clear intent to frustrate us, our crowd reaction doesn’t help the team go forwards. It was a frustrating afternoon and we are probably going to have more of them this season.

"I am not clashing with our supporters, but we have got lads who have never played together on the pitch today, we are not going to be some machine all of a sudden. Our performance never lifted our supporters and we needed our supporters maybe just to give us that lift because I feel our relationship was a strong one."

"We are in such a change as a team now, we have got so many new players coming in, young lads. We have got to be careful – we are not entitled to win any game. Just because we have a good squad and we have good players doesn’t mean we are entitled to say ‘we are Chesterfield this is going to be a breeze.’

Markanday tapped home from close-range after being teed-up by James Berry but a mistake from Ryan Boot allowed Jude-Boyd to equalise.

Cook continued: "We have been in front in three home games now. We were really disappointed, especially with the goal we gave away, which is an absolute disgrace – there is no getting away from that. We were under zero pressure in the game.

"We got in the lead and once you get in the lead you should win the game. At some point Cheltenham had to come out and be more expansive and we should have scored more goals but when they got the equaliser it allowed them to sit in and frustrate us more and more."

The draw means Chesterfield have won two, lost two and drawn three so far.

Cook added: “We are playing teams now with different challenges with good players. We are disappointed not to have seen out a game or two more at home but there is a long way to go.

"Hopefully over a period of time we are going to get stronger and stronger and play with more of a cutting edge but it does take a little bit of time to get there.”

And on leaving Ollie Banks out of the squad, he told the DT: "Just a little tactical one. I wanted to bring DJ in and play Jenson as a holding midfielder. Ollie has got a big future at the club, like every player has.”