Chesterfield: Skipper’s ban leaves Spireites boss with selection dilemma

The man, who blazed his penalty over the bar in Tuesday’s FA Cup second round shoot-out loss at Walsall, collected his 10th yellow card of the season at the Banks’ Stadium, meaning will sit out the home game with Bradford City on Saturday and the Boxing Day trip to Peterborough United.

Interim Spireites boss Mark Smith was pleased with his capitan’s hard-working shift, saying: “I thought the likes of Sam Morsy, in front of the back four, blocked off spaces and made life hard for them well. A lot of people put in unselfish shifts for the team today, and that can only stand us in good stead.

“It was a game again when we had spells where we were well on top.

“They had pressure at times and I thought we handled that really well and our back four was excellent.

“I said to the guys after the game that we need to be more ruthless when we get into good situations. We didn’t make that many chances but we had good situations and lots of free-kicks in good areas but we didn’t make them count.

“The players can see what can be achieved by sticking together and that’s what they’ve got to do now as they are the only the lads who can get us out of this situation.

“They should be taking confidence out of the performance at Walsall and then building momentum for the next game, I was pleased with the performance and the result as well until we got to the penalty shoot-out.”

Midfielder Ollie Banks and loan striker Lee Novak both ended the game looking less than 100 per cent fit but Smith is hopeful they will both be available for selection for the weekend

The Bantams are renowned for their direct style of play and Smith, tongue in cheek, said: “I hope someone will give the ball some paracetamol before Saturday as I expect it will take a lot of stick.”