Notts County manager Neal Ardley praises Chesterfield's gameplan in win at Meadow Lane

The Spireites controlled the majority of the first half and deservedly led through Gavin Gunning’s free-kick which evaded everyone.

The hosts, who had won four on the spin, came out on the front foot after the break but Town defended well and had three great chances to double their lead through Akwasi Asante, Laurence Maguire and debutant Adi Yussuf.

“Credit to the opposition, I thought they were really good,” Ardley said.

“Their game plan was good. They kept knocking it out to the right wing-back and playing off of that and kept turning us and getting long throws and it was like a territorial game where we just kept getting pinned back in and we could never get back out in the first half.

“We went missing a bit and you just need to ride that storm and defend your set-pieces properly which we did not. That would have seen us in with a chance to come in at half-time and restructure it a little bit and change in the players’ mindset which we did in the second half but it was still a little huff and puff.

“I am not going to slaughter the players because we have done great lately. We have just ended up with several not quite at their games and because of that the team does not quite function as well and that is football.”