Wilson relishing Barnsley, Blades, Rovers but focused on Vale

Port Vale will visit the Proact on Saturday, before Chesterfield face Barnsley, Sheffield United and Doncaster in quick succession.

The Spireites’ boss admits he’s excited by games against local rivals, but isn’t taking his mind off the immediate challenge.

“I’m really looking forward to derby games, I think they bring the best out of everybody,” he said.

“They’re great fixtures to whet everyone’s appetite in the next few weeks.

“When you get a derby fixture there’s a lot of pride at stake. And there’s points at stake from our point of view.

“But prior to that we’ve got a very tough game this weekend against a team who arguably still have a chance to get into the play-offs.”

Chesterfield go into this weekend winless in four outings, having drawn 0-0 with Fleetwood and lost 1-0 to Oldham over the Easter Weekend.

Wilson insists he isn’t feeling particularly down in the dumps however.

He said: “My mood hasn’t changed and it won’t ever change. It’s important we keep a real focus on what we need to do.

“The last two games we’ve been quite unfortunate.

“The Oldham game wasn’t a classic by any stretch, it was going to be 1-0 to us, 1-0 to them or a draw but we came home without the points.

“That’s what happens at this stage of the season, we may be the recipients of a very scrappy three points in the next few games.

“We move on, we carry on. Nothing will have been decided on that particular fixture, the same will be true this weekend.

“But we do need to pick points up as soon as we possibly can.”

He’s comforted greatly by the fact that Chesterfield, two points clear of the drop zone, are still masters of their own destiny.

“Seven games to go now, that’s a lot of points to play for. It’s in our hands,” he said.

“We’re still in a fairly decent position points wise. We will be our own fatalists, it’s up to us to win the games.

“If we don’t we’ve no one to blame but ourselves.

“We don’t have to worry about anyone else.”