Title-winning Chesterfield defender set to leave for National League club
The left-back is set to join National League side Gateshead on a permanent deal after two-and-a-half years at the Spireites.
The 24-year-old helped Town win the National League title last season but has struggled for regular game-time this term, finding himself behind Lewis Gordon and then Jack Sparkes.
He has made 12 appearances in all competitions but only two of those were league starts and he was left out of the matchday squad completely on Saturday.
Horton will depart having made 68 appearances in total and having been part of a team which will be remembered for returning the club back to the Football League.
The defender will join a Gateshead side who are fourth in the National League and are in a solid position to finish in the play-offs. They are 14 points behind leaders Barnet but are seven points clear of Altrincham in eighth.
‘Keen to put it right’ – Doncaster Rovers midfielder has eye on revenge win over Chesterfield
Rovers make the short trip to Derbyshire having lost 3-0 at home to the Spireites near the start of the season. Nothing went right that day for Grant McCann’s side with Luke Molyneux and Tom Anderson both seeing red on a bad day at the office.
That reversal is one of just seven defeats in the league for McCann’s men although it is arguably the only time where Rovers can hold their hands up and admit the better side outclassed them.
Bailey is keen to address that in the return clash as Rovers look to seal a fifth straight League Two success and further increase the pressure on wobbling leaders Walsall.
“That Chesterfield game is probably the only one where we’ve come off the pitch thinking ‘the better team won’,” Bailey told the Free Press. “But we’re keen to really put that right.
“I think even at the start of the season, there was a collective belief that if we play as well as we can we can beat anyone. It’s important to reaffirm that sometimes.
“We didn’t lose our way but we had a small sticky patch where results didn’t go for us. But it’s testament to the group that we stuck together and trusted what we’re doing. Hopefully we can keep going.”
