The Chesterfield player who John Pemberton believes is 'better than people give him credit for'

The caretaker manager has increased the intensity of training sessions and has introduced GPS trackers to monitor the distances they cover.

Pemberton highlighted striker Tom Denton as an example of the improvements that have been made.

"He ran seven kilometres in training on Tuesday, it was unbelievable,” Pemberton said. “Whereas before he was doing three kilometres.

"He was third in the whole group of distance covered which is phenomenal for someone who plays his position and what his game is.

"I thought Dents was brilliant at Eastleigh.

"Every set-piece he was back and he was like a magnet.

“I really like Dents and I think he is better than people give him credit for.

“I see more to him in our team than probably just a battering ram.

“My duty is to try and make everyone better and and he wants to be better.

“I can put the sessions on but what he has got to do is go and do it and to be fair to him he is doing it.

“It (Denton’s seven kilometres) is a big talking point of all the lads and Dents – I think he is 6ft 8 – and he was 7ft 2 this morning with all the lads (praising him"

“It all breeds confidence and that is what I am trying to do.”

Pemberton was keen to point out that the players are not covering more distances because he is running them into the ground and said it was down to a change in attitude.

He added: "It is not that we have run them, it is the work we have been doing and his (Denton) attitude towards doing it and that is the big thing that has stepped up; their attitude towards the work and rolling their sleeves up.

"I am not Harry Potter, I am not a magician. But what we do is say 'this is what needs to be done' and 'these are going to be the outcomes'.”