Rai Simons is hoping to keep his place in the Chesterfield team for today’s FA Cup match against Walsall, following a hectic week at the club during which manager Dean Saunders lost his job after four straight defeats.

Simons played the entire 90 minutes in last weekend’s loss to Swindon Town, which turned out to be Saunders’s last match in charge.

Now Smith will hope he did enough to keep his spot as Mark Smith, the caretaker manager who is the club’s youth team manager, has hinted he would be looking to rely on experience for his first game in charge.

Simons, who turned professional this season when he joined Chesterfield, is in a similar position to Nahki Wells at Huddersfield, where Chris Powell was fired after a run of poor results.

“We don’t have a manager, but that’s what happens when things aren’t going as they are supposed to,” Simons said. “As a player you just have to continue and try to do the right things, and hopefully things start to turn in your favour.

“It [morale] is just a bit down because the manager is gone and things are a bit different now.

“This is the FA Cup, which is different from a regular league fixture and anything can happen. We’re as optimistic as we can be as we prepare for tomorrow.”

Simons got a taste of the harsh realities of professional football even before officially joining Chesterfield, when Paul Cook, the manager who signed him from non-league Ilkeston Town, left to take over as manager of Portsmouth in League Two.

When Simons joined Chesterfield in the summer, Saunders was already the new manager at Proact Stadium.

Chesterfield also failed in their push for promotion to the Championship after being eliminated from the play-offs by Preston.

Now, Simons, 19, will have to impress not only the caretaker manager, but the new manager, as Chesterfield seek to improve on their sixteenth-place in the league, four points above the relegation zone.

“I don’t really know if I’ll start, but I’ll be involved one way or the other,” Simons said.

The first few months as a professional player have been a learning experience for the youngster.

“I’m taking it on board quicker than I thought I would at the start,” he said. “When I came here I didn’t expect to get a [first team] game in 2015, honestly.

“It came pretty quickly, I’m just taking things in my stride and keep learning and growing as a player.

“Even small things like the lifestyle of being a professional, going to the gym and watching what you eat.”

Simons is starting to become a recognised face as he moves around Chesterfield.

“I go certain places and people will speak to me,” he said. “Everything is becoming different in my world and I’m just enjoying it.

“With a new manager coming in soon I’ll have to prove myself all over again, which I don’t mind doing, really. The caretaker manager comes to every game so he knows the team and how we play.

“Tomorrow has the potential to be the turning point in the season, so hopefully it is a good day.”

Chesterfield will be without Dan Jones, the defender, who fractured an ankle in last weekend’s loss to Swindon Town, while Walsall, the West Midlands club where Kyle Lightbourne made his mark in English football, will likely be without Tom Bradshaw, the striker, due to injury.

Chesterfield beat Walsall 2-1 in the league seven weeks ago, but Walsall have the best away record in the division with six wins already.

At his first press conference as caretaker, Smith talked about his first week in charge.

“It’s never a nice time coming in because that means someone’s lost their job, but in reality you know these things can happen,” he said.

“We seem to have won games in blocks, and then lost games in blocks, which doesn’t help because everyone just remembers the last three or four losses, and not the ones before that.

“I didn’t want to go in and rip everything up, I know they’re a good bunch as I worked with them last season.

“I’ve got a little bit of respect in there, and I’ve spoken to a few of the senior players to ask them what the mood was like and they said the confidence was down.”