ACCORDING to Nathan Byrne, Jonathan Obika’s confidence will not take a hit after a tough night in front of goal for the striker at the Proact Stadium on Tuesday.

At Chesterfield, Obika generally played well – in what was only his second start since injuring his shoulder against Barnsley. Dovetailing alongside the in-form Michael Smith, the former Spurs man seemed to be developing a good relationship with his strike partner.

Most notable was one perfectly weighted through ball from Obika in the second half. It put Smith in one-on-one and given his form you would have expected to see the chance converted, however Spireites ‘keeper Tommy Lee saved well to deny the Geordie forward is 12th of the season and Obika an assist.

Unfortunately for Obika, instead his evening will be remembered for two misses that had they occurred pre-injury, surely would have been goals.

Firstly, the striker showed excellent movement to deceive the Chesterfield defence and latch on to Massimo Luongo’s pass, then rounded Lee with a good touch but got his feet in a tangle and placed his shot well wide.

In the second half, Byrne gave Obika a chance to atone for earlier miss. The wing-back delivered a teasing cross that the striker connected well with but saw hi header bounce back off the upright, it was a simple chance and he was replaced by Williams shortly after.

Byrne spoke after the game about his teammates’ misfortune and backed the striker to quickly get over his mistakes.

Asked whether Obika’s confidence would be at all damaged, Byrne said: “No, he’s a very confident lad. He’s got a lot of goals already.

“He’s knows he can score goals wherever he is and we’re still going to put the balls in the box and he’s still going to create chances. He was just unlucky today that he didn’t get the two goals in the end.

“These things happen, when he’s scored that many goals no one can really say anything to him.”

Obika’s boss Mark Cooper preferred to see the positives in the opportunities and also backed Obika to re-find his scoring touch.

Cooper said: “(Obika’s) movement was exceptional to get into those slots and he will score goals make no mistake about that.”