Familiar faces will spice up Spireites test

Latics’ assistant manager writes every week for Chron Sport
I PERSONALLY view tomorrow’s npower League One showdown with Chesterfield at Boundary Park as a derby.

Not so much in the geographical sense, but because of the way our opponents will be treating the fixture.

Their management team, headed by John Sheridan, were at the helm of this club and know it inside out.

And almost half of the Spireites’ first team is made up of former Athletic players who will be champing at the bit to perform well against us.

Make no mistake, Chesterfield are going to see this game as a war of attrition.

Their form has been a bit iffy of late, but I firmly believe the form book goes out of the window for this one. We must be ready for whatever they chuck at us.

Obviously we are also very keen to get our league form back on track, having lost to Bury before two straight cup victories, over Crewe in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and Burton Albion in the FA Cup respectively.

We started well in the 3-1 triumph over Burton and found ourselves in a comfortable position, three goals to the good against 10 men.

But anyone who witnessed the draw at Carlisle or last season’s home point against Exeter, will know that 3-0 is not our best scoreline as we tend to shoot ourselves in the foot.

We didn’t surrender the lead against Burton, but we were guilty of over-playing and not making life as easy for ourselves as we did in the first period.

They pulled back a goal and enjoyed some possession, but we won the match and got our name in the hat for the second round draw, which is the main thing.

The £18,500 prize money for winning the first round tie is huge for us — we are in a financial struggle and every little helps.

We will travel to Southend or Preston North End next. I do not pay attention to cup draws, the main thing is to be in them and get on with it.

The same goes for Bradford at home in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy regional semi-finals.

I was delighted to see Josh Parker and DJ Bembo play for the reserves this week.

Their return from injury is going to be a boost and everyone will have to sharpen their teeth when competition for places fully kicks in again.