'I've got a bone to pick with Wembley...' - Chesterfield captain adamant 'job is not done yet' ahead of Notts County final

The Spireites are one win away from promotion back to the EFL after five years away.

There were memorable celebrations on the pitch at a packed Technique Stadium after Sunday’s classic play-off encounter against Bromley but the scenes inside the dressing room were more measured.

Grimes told the DT: “We have got a feeling in the squad that it is not job done yet so it wasn’t mad or crazy. We know we have got to win this game next week. Our target at the start of the year was to get promoted and we have got a chance to do that and that is what we are going to try and do.”

Notts County, who narrowly missed out on the title, await the Blues at Wembley in the final on Saturday.

“It is going to be a fantastic game of football,” Grimes said. “They are probably the best footballing team in this league and what this league has seen for a long time. I would probably say we are second in the league for the way we play when we are on it. I think it will be a good tactical game and it will be interesting to see what they do and what we do. We will go and give it our best and that is all we can do.”

And Grimes will also be aiming to put right the wrongs from his last Wembley appearance.

“The less said the better! I lost in an FA Trophy final for Hereford before I signed here,” he explained. “So I have got a bone to pick with Wembley because it is the worst place ever to go and lose. It is a fantastic place to play football but when you lose it just hits you very, very hard.”

The Spireites are in the final thanks to Liam Mandeville’s extra-time winner.

‘Mandy’ cleaned up at the end-of-season awards and Grimes says he fully deserves all of them.

He said: “From day one in pre-season he was winning all of the running, I know it is not a competition, but he was at the front for everything. He runs 11-12k every game and just grafts. At the end today he was sprinting into the corner.

“Mandy’s goal was absolutely fantastic. To have the energy to move your feet like that is fantastic. He is a great player and such a great lad to have around.”

Another player who put himself through the pain barrier was Ryan Colclough, who hobbled through extra-time, and Grimes revealed the winger had not been 100 per cent fit.

He told the DT: “He has just told me he felt sick last night, he was ill, so you don’t need 120 minutes when you are not quite at it, do you? But he is a warrior, kept going, that little bit of skill to get the cross in for the first goal was incredible. He is so good at going one v one with people.”

It was almost a different story for Chesterfield when Michael Cheek secured a dramatic equaliser to make it 2-2 deep into injury-time at the end of the second-half.

Grimes said: “I thought we had it, I thought we had dealt with the pressure well, but we didn’t get quite enough pressure on the ball and they had six on our back four. Bailey (Clements) gets isolated at the back stick and it is just one of them things. When they put that many bodies in the box, it is quite hard to defend. We have got to do better. It was heartbreaking but we got the job done in the end.”

On what was said ahead of extra-time, the defender continued: “There were a few words said between a few of us, the gaffer just calmed us down and said we have got a man extra, we are the better team, just keep passing the ball and we did that.”

He added: “It is a great feeling, we made hard work of it!

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