BY PHIL TOOLEY

Utility man Kyle Critchell made his Spireites bow for the final few minutes of the game against Brighton last month when the 20 year old replaced Derek Niven in the middle of midfield but he feels equally at home wide or at the back.

He followed that up by playing the full 90 minutes at Huddersfield Town and supplied the pinpoint cross for Peter Holmes to head home The Spireites goal, another 90 at home to Bournemouth before he received a ball in the eye at Millwall that forced him to miss a couple of games, he returned to the bench and put in a brief appearance at Carlisle.

The Dorchester born Welsh U21 International began as a youngster with a non-league Club, "I started my career playing for Weymouth when I was about 14," he said, "I made my debut for them and ever since then, I've not looked back. I've cracked on, went to Southampton and then on loan to Torquay United earlier this season and now I've ended up at Chesterfield."

One of his contemporaries at St Mary's was current Arsenal starlet Theo Walcott, "It was a pleasure playing alongside him, any player like that. When he was playing in the Youth Team I was generally left back and watched him closely and when he got the ball, you just knew he was going to murder his opponent, they don't have the experience of players in the Premiership but you could always tell he was going to be a great player. Then there's Gareth Bale as well, when he was younger I wouldn't say he struggled but at that level he wasn't as confident as he is now, but he's grow in stature and he'll be another great player."

Saint Kyle and his contemporaries made it through to the Youth Cup Final in 2004-05, beating Arsenal along the way, but they lost on aggregate (3-2) in the final to Ipswich Town, though our new man missed out on the final but he remembers the run and the team with pride, "It was one of my best feelings ever, to get all the way through having played against the best youngsters in the Country and we had the best side I've ever played in, great football, a great Manager, Frenchman Georges Prost, great times."

Southampton first team only beckoned briefly, in a number of pre-season fixtures ahead of the 2005-06 season before a cruciate ligament injury knocked him out of contention, so his switch on loan to Torquay in the Autumn gave him the opportunity to mix in on the league stage.

"Playing in the league was such a massive change from youth team and reserves football, lots of graft and hard work. But coming from a background at Weymouth, I'm used to working hard and that part of the game doesn't bother me."

"My intentions were never to drop down as low as League Two but you sometimes have to go down there to get back up. I did quite well at Torquay, playing 10 games and had bigger clubs looking at me whilst I was there, and here I am now."

His Gulls debut was in a 0-0 draw at home to Shrewsbury Town on 28^th October 2006 and, he played the full 90 minutes in a midfield slot. His lat game for them was a crucial home tie with fellow strugglers Macclesfield Town and Kyle played for around 80 minutes before being subbed at 0-0 but the Silkmen scored a last gasp winner to push United deep into relegation trouble.

After returning to Southampton, press speculation linked him with Chester City, but Critchell confirmed it was another North West side that were interested, "My agent speaks to a lot of Clubs, I had Dario Gradi at Crewe wanting me to go there to train but I ended up coming to Chesterfield, my Mum's only 40 minutes away in Wakefield so coming here will give me a chance to see my Mum as well! I really like the lads too, they're quality here, so half of my decision was based on the lads."

"My Mum is actually Welsh, she moved North from Weymouth, so that's how I ended up playing for Wales at Under 18, Under 19 and now Under 21 level, so I've come up through the ranks. For the Under 21's I've played against Turkey, I started in Israel and my first game was Cyprus at home. I've been called up for the next game, which is next week, against Northern Ireland in Belfast."

The person who recommended him to the Welsh set up was the man credited with discovering Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale at Southampton, Malcolm Elias, whose CV also includes developing the likes of Martin Keown and Mark Wright, "I never put myself forwards for the International thing but Malcolm knew I had a bit of Welsh in me and he spoke to Wales and Ian Rush at the time needed a centre half and I went down and impressed enough to get selected and took my chance." Elias is currently Recruitment Director at Liverpool's Academy.

The catch-all 'utility' tag has a myriad of connotations, and Critchell knows he needs to shake it off, " I haven't got a preferred position at the moment, that's one of the things I know I've got to do, settle down and find a position that's good for me. I've played left back, right back, centre back, central midfield, right wing, I just need to settle down. To answer the question, I haven't got a favourite position at the moment."

He knows his own positive points though, "Strength and power on the ball are my strengths, when I get going I've got plenty of energy, the lads at Torquay used to call me 'Turbo' because sometimes when I start running, I just kick in, I'm quite powerful and I try to bring sensibility to the side, just try and keep things simple."

At Torquay, one of his team-mates was one time Spireite Stephen Woods, a player comfortable in any position across the back or in midfield to, "I wouldn't say I was a similar player to him but as in being comfortable on the ball, he is and so am I, you just need to take your chance when you get it and I hope to get my chance with Chesterfield."

As for his aspirations at Saltergate, for whom he's signed until the end of the season, "I want to be playing but I know I can't just roll in and take someone's spot because they've deserved their chance after a couple of wins but after the Brighton defeat I may just get a chance for the Huddersfield game. I'll just train hard and play hard and hopefully get a chance."

Most of last season was lost to that cruciate injury, which came about as a result of his work ethic, "I started a couple of friendlies for the first team towards the start of the season and felt I was in with a chance of being a regular in the squad. I played against Bournemouth in a friendly and then came in for a bit of extra training, trained with the Youth Team and I injured the knee in a practice match with them, so doing it in a training game that I didn't need to be at made it worse but it'll not stop me continuing to work hard."

Critchell was due to sign on his birthday, 18^th January, but it didn't quite work out that way, " I signed the day after my birthday. I travelled up on my birthday with the intention of signing that day but it was that really windy day and it took me 10 hours to get up here, not a birthday to remember, so I ended up signing the day after, it was great to sign."

The youngster also became yet another newcomer to espouse the delights of the Saltergate dressing room, "There's not one person here that doesn't want to know you. Most dressing rooms you go in to there are little groups forming other little teams but here you can speak to everyone. If you need experience, you can speak to the experienced lads, they're nothing but a brilliant set of lads."