Lester talks pouncing on chances to sign players and ending January '˜very close' to his recruitment plan

But the Chesterfield boss, known for his ability to pounce on chances as a player, had to move quickly to snap up a couple of his new recruits who unexpectedly became available.

The Spireites added a grand total of 11 players in the transfer window, shipping six out.

Lester admits it wasn’t all plain sailing, but it so rarely is for any club.

“It was very close (to the plan),” he said.

“You don’t have a plan and it all come off.

“One or two things came up, like Louis Dodds, that we didn’t think would.

“You probably change one of your plans that wasn’t as good, for someone as good as Louis Dodds.”

Having signed Aaron Ramsdale, Drew Talbot, Sid Nelson, Zavon Hines, Josh Kay, Alex Whitmore, Louis Dodds, Dylan Mottley-Henry, Jacob Brown, George Smith and Giles Coke, Lester was delighted to get his targets.

He had been determined not to compromise.

“I think we’re really pleased.

“We wanted to bring in a young up and coming striker and Browny (Jacob Brown) became available quite late in the day, he was in Barnsley’s first team, on the bench and playing in the Championship so you’ve got to move very quickly on one or two deals when they come up.

“Normally the same players are available at the end of the window as were at the start and we didn’t want to be okay we’ll have that then, to make do.

“You have to wait towards the end because a lot of clubs wait to do their business first, I think we targetted very well at the start of the window, some players we’ve been looking at like Drew and Sid, because of what happened with the injuries at the back.

“Then we’ve been chasing Dylan from October or November, we had good relationships with Barnsley, Hecky has been fantastically supportive of us, but again he’s been playing in their first team so you didn’t want to compromise and go for something that you hadn’t planned on.

“At the same time we had a couple of contingencies ready because it went right to the wire, with Barnsley waiting on their recruitment as well.

“It’s never plain, everyone is wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, but they’re ones we’ve been planning to buy since November.”