Steve Davis says Dean Saunders walked into a club in transition in the summer.

Steve Davis says that his counterpart this weekend, Dean Saunders, walked into a club in transition when he replaced the Portsmouth bound Paul Cook in the summer.

last season. ^thAfter guiding Chesterfield to a play-off spot, Cook left to take over at League Two Pompey and then enticed Gary Roberts to join him at Fratton Park. The likes of Jimmy Ryan and Sam Clucas also moved on in the summer and Saunders has had to build aspects of the team that finished 6

Ahead of our meeting this weekend, Steve said: “Dean came in and has had to cope with losing some of his better players. There has been a bit of a change around there and that can happen when you have a successful season.

“They still have some good players but it can be difficult when you lose three or four key players in one summer as well as the manager.

“They did really well last season to reach the play-offs and it will be difficult to live up to that level of expectation again. They have a lot to live up to because in many ways they were the surprise package of the division.

He added: “They play good football under Dean and will be dangerous but it is another challenge for us and we have to focus on ourselves. We need to make sure we are focussed on what we need to do to get that first win at the home and the players are determined to put things right after Tuesday night. “