Weakened Rochdale Side To Face Spireites In Cup

This will be the second time they have met at the Spotland Stadium in this cup competition now known as the Johnstones Paint Trophy although it was then known as the Freight Rover Trophy. The Spireites lost 3 nil on 27th of January 1987. They have met twice since then in 1995 at Saltergate the Spireites winning 2-1. They last met in this tournament on 12th of November at the Proact the Spireites won 3-0 with 2 goals from Ollie Banks and a goal from Armand Gnanduillet.

The Spireites last 10 visits to Spotland Stadium in all competitions have resulted in 3 defeats, 2 wins and 5 draws.

Keith Hill will make changes from the side that lost 1-3 at home to Bradford on Saturday he said:"I'm going to retain six players that started on Saturday and make five changes-it's as simple as that.

"I will go with the same back four, I will go with Joe Rafferty and the goalkeeper(Josh Lillis) but arguably, the front five will change.

"I don't think it will dilute our opportunities on the night."

The Spireites will be without Sam Morsy who is suspended having picked up his fifth yellow card of the season at Crewe. Angel Martinez(knee) remains a long term absentee, and Lee Novak(thigh) remains sidelined.

I'm hoping that he will stick with Simons and Diesaruvwe upfront having both impressed at Crewe on Saturday it would give them vital experience towards their development as players. Gardner should also retain his place having scored 2 goals on Saturday, he is improving and learning all the time due to having a run of games in the first team. His chances last season were limited often having to come off the bench.

I think it's important to win this game so they can carry on from their win at Crewe and go into the next game at home to Gillingham full of confidence. Although a Cup run could be a distraction in this case I feel the team needs a boost and a win at Rochdale would give them that.

The last time the match official Jeremy Simpson was in charge of a match involving Chesterfield resulted in a 2-1 win at Port Vale. The bad news is he gave out 9 yellows and one red, the Spireites recieved 4 yellows plus Ian Evatt got sent off in the 84th minute.

Dean Fidler