James Rowe: "We are really excited to get going tomorrow"

Chesterfield welcome Wealdstone to the Technique Stadium for their first home game of the 2021/22 National League season.

Manager James Rowe is wary of the threat Wealdstone possess, after the Stones took four points from the two meetings last season.

He said: “They try and play, in terms of build-up from deep areas and short build-ups. They also go into the front with some of the recruitment they have made.

“I’m expecting them to try and come at us early, in terms of them bouncing back from their home loss to Woking. I’m sure they have got a point to prove.

“The warning is there. They took four points off us last year. We won’t underestimate them. They’ll play their part for sure.

“We’ve got to make sure that we focus fully on ourselves and what objectives we need to tick off to win the game. We are really excited to get going tomorrow.”

Chesterfield are tipped by many to challenge for promotion back to the EFL, but Rowe has his sights set on smaller goals before looking at the bigger picture.

“We want to hit a marker after seven games and then ten games,” Rowe said. “We have a target we want to hit and [Aldershot] was a good start towards that target.

“We all need goals in life. The longer-term and medium-term goals are achieved through short-term, daily goals which you want to tick off as you go.

“At Aldershot, we wanted a clean sheet and we ticked that off. We wanted to score; we ticked that off. We wanted to play entertaining football and we did in the second half. I think those things bode well for this coming weekend.”

The Technique Stadium will host home and away fans for the first time in 543 days – a 4-3 defeat against Harrogate Town in March 2020.

The Spireites boss is aware that his team need to set a marker in their home games, saying: “The gate opened a little bit with 3,000 people at the Dagenham game [last season].

“They saw that. It’s important that we set a marker down. We are really excited to get going. It’s going to be a great occasion for the fans coming back in. We are looking forward to putting a performance on.”

Chesterfield can choose full squad to choose from this weekend, apart from Tom Denton, Akwasi Asante and Haydn Hollis.

However, Rowe admitted that George Carline, Alex Whittle and Fraser Kerr are still readying themselves back to full-match fitness.

“I think one of the three are ready,” Rowe stated. “One of the three is ready to have a big impact a real impact this weekend.

“I think the other two are slowly catching up. It’s a mixed bag really. We go into this weekend with the same selection criteria. Alex Whittle is another week ahead and so is George Carline.”