'˜Point gained' as Lester praises Chesterfield players

The point moved the Spireites off the bottom of the League Two table and six points off safety but there may have been even more to celebrate had they managed to hold out after Kristian Dennis gave them a 74th-minute lead.

Instead Brian Graham equalised just five minutes later as the teams played out a 1-1 draw.

But after giving his team a dressing down following last week’s 3-1 defeat to Lincoln City, Lester was left pleased with the response of his players.

“It was tough conditions and definitely a point gained,” he said.

“It’s not only the conditions, but the quality of who you are playing against too.

“Cheltenham have been in form and they won 3-0 at Swindon last week, causing teams a lot of problems.

“We felt it’d be a tough afternoon, but we limited them to very little and had the better chances of the game and did enough to win it.

“I thought the lads really worked hard and we outworked them on a very difficult pitch.

“Aaron Ramsdale has had one or two difficult moments, but he’s a top, top keeper and you could see his qualities. He was assured in difficult, swirling conditions and he was excellent and held his nerve.

“He made one great save from Eisa and we got ourselves ahead, but they scored a good equaliser.”

With third-bottom Grimsby losing to Lincoln City and bottom side Barnet going down at the hands of Wycombe, it was an encouraging day for Chesterfield, who saw Dennis notch his 17th goal of the season.

Although Lester was already moving his thoughts towards next Sunday’s clash.

“Notts County next is on Sunday, we will have one or two more back in the frame. We’ll have a practice match early in the week and we can get four or five good days in,” he added.

“The extra day won’t do us any harm, but it was important we got something in that game there.”