Chesterfield manager Dean Saunders refused to blame keeper Tommy Lee for Saturday’s late Oldham winner at the Proact Stadium, reports The Star.
Lee failed to keep out a long-range effort from Danny Philliskirk which squirmed under his body to gift all three points to David Dunn’s side.
But Saunders was quick to defend his number one and pointed his finger firmly at the adverse weather conditions as the main contributing factor for the goal – and the performance.
“We didn’t play our normal style of football, our normal passing game,” he said.
“But the conditions were horrific, it was bordering on nearly being called off at one stage. It was difficult for both teams.
“Our crossing, our passing, the link play, we didn’t show enough quality,” said Saunders.
“We didn’t make their goalkeeper work enough.
“I‘ll put it down to the conditions, they never created much, they had two shots I think and scored.
“The goalkeeping mistake at the end from Tommy – he’s got us so many points this season so I’m not going to criticise him – it was just a routine save, straight at him and I think it squirms through his legs, because of the weather. The game slipped through our fingers.”
The defeat saw Chesterfield drop to 14th in the League One table level on points with Port Vale who they face on Saturday.
