Jack Lester felt Chesterfield deserved three points at Cheltenham

Posted Sunday, March 18, 2018 by PA

Chesterfield boss Jack Lester felt his side were unlucky not to claim all three points after their 1-1 draw at Cheltenham.

The Spireites moved off the bottom of League Two with a battling point but it could have been an even better result in their bid to avoid the drop to the National League.

Kristian Dennis’ 74th-minute opener had put them on course for a second win in three outings but Robins substitute Brian Graham struck an equaliser five minutes later.

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

“Andy Kellett was probably the one player who could get the ball down.

“It was tough conditions and definitely a point gained.

“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.”

Lester’s men are six points from safety and have two games in hand on third-bottom Grimsby, who they face next month.

Mid-table Cheltenham have no such problems and their boss Gary Johnson was content to come away with a share of the spoils.

“It wasn’t a great spectacle to watch and the wind came and went and came again and the snow came at the end,” Johnson said.

“The pitch was a bit dead and we’ve had a lot of rain so it wasn’t conducive to quick football.

“We maybe got to it in the last 10 minutes when we needed to get the game back, but we didn’t get the fast, flowing football we have had in the last three games.

“The other winner was that it was a better point for us than Chesterfield.

“They are fighting for their lives and Morecambe and Yeovil got results, so teams down there are trying very hard to get a result before they are out of it completely.

“So from our point of view it was great to get the equaliser from Brian’s first touch.”