Chesterfield defender Alfie Pond and his push for a first proper run of regular senior football

Alfie Pond wants his debut for Chesterfield to be the kick-start towards a long-awaited first busy season of senior football.

The centre-half who made a Premier League debut for Wolverhampton Wanderers the year before last has had limited game time through his professional career.

The former Wolves U21s captain had loans at Yeovil and Stockport before another one with Crewe Alexandra last season.

His 19 league appearances there hinted at better things and now Pond, with a first competitive 90 minutes for Chesterfield under his belt, against Barnet last week, would like to push on.

“I had to be patient in previous years, heading out on loan and stuff,” explained the 22-year-old. “I haven’t actually experienced that full season yet and yes, it is unusual.

“I had four or five months last season when I was playing regularly but that’s the only time in my career really where I have had senior experience. I’ve not had that Saturday-Tuesday feeling for a whole season so far so it’s definitely going to be a change because you’ve got to get your body used to it.

“I can’t go too much looking back into it now. It is all about the present day. It has taken a while but it’s where I find myself so I just have to get on with it.”

The decision to rest Kyle McFadzean, the 39-year-old veteran, gave Pond his chance to start against Barnet last week.

The chaotic 3-3 draw wasn’t ideal for a defender still feeling his way in but the debutant coped well in central defence alongside Jack Simpson.

“Obviously I was very happy to get my chance and for the majority I think I did alright,” said Alfie.

“I didn’t feel as fit as I could be. I haven’t played as many games as I would like but I am growing every day. I am only going to get fitter the more I play and I am only going to get better the more I play.

“I played with Simmo a lot through pre-season and it could change and I might end up playing with Fadz more or Mal (Malik-Owoabi Belewu). You forget about building partnerships and just playing really.

“It helps that I have really enjoyed working with manager and all the coaching staff. From the first day I came in I felt welcome, felt part of it straight away, and that’s credit to the staff, the lads and the gaffer as well.”

Whether Pond keeps his place for tomorrow’s trip to Oldham Athletic will soon become clear.

Traditionally strong at Boundary Park, the Latics will be a handful.

It’s another tricky fixture to tag on to what has been a demanding opening few weeks for his new club in League Two and Pond recognises he will be travelling with a group still on a learning curve.

“Oldham are a good team, direct. It will be a tough game,” he added.

“When you look at our fixtures so far and how the table is looking, it has been a tough start for us. We can only effect things ourselves and once we get to the best place we feel we can be I think we will be alright after that.

“Things can change really quickly. If you get three games in a week and you put a run of winning games together then you can climb the table quite quickly.

“Everyone is building relationships, building partnerships which are going to take time. I think we are in a really good place.”