Chesterfield duo set to miss Gateshead clash

Dobra (ankle) and Asante (thigh) were forced off in the first-half against Altrincham over the bank holiday weekend and were not involved last Saturday at Oldham Athletic.

Neither injury is long-term, but they won’t be rushed back despite being important players, insists first-team coach Gary Roberts.

"They are okay,” Roberts told the DT on Thursday morning.

"We thought one of them might have been a little bit quicker than the other but they are pretty much the same timeframe. We have not really put a (timeframe) on them, they are not long-term injuries, it’s nothing like that, but we won’t rush them. They probably won’t make Saturday but there will be no rush.”

He added: "We have got to be careful with injuries, we know that. We lost a lot of players last year by probably bringing them back a little bit too soon. Any player who is not 100 per cent fit, they dont’t play, that is the manager’s philosophy here. He would never put a player under risk.

"We have got to manage these people, especially Akwasi. Akwasi is 30 now, once you get around that age, your body needs a little bit more care. We will monitor him really closely, especially his games, his three-games week, maybe we have been a little bit greedy with him with the games being so tight together. But he is playing so well he wants to get on the pitch.

"We will monitor the pair of them, two good players, but Calvin Miller and Jack Clarke came in and did really well.”

Roberts said there are ‘one or two tiny niggles’ in the squad but highlighted the strength of the team at the moment, in particular the performances of Miller and Clarke, who made their first starts of the season against Oldham last weekend.

“The pair of them can be proud of themselves, we are proud of them, we did not expect to get as much minutes out of the both of them,” Roberts said. “They worked their socks off and the physical data was spot on and it just shows that anyone can come into this team.

"Calvin got cramp but that was understandable. He had a couple of days ill the week before last and he has not had many minutes and he had a slight injury. The time he was on the pitch he was immense, he played the position really well, he worked so hard and he was a threat.”