Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context
Port Vale 1 Chesterfield 0
League Two Game #6
It was great to renew the rivalry in the (heavenly) Motorhead derby; Burslem-born Lemmy Kilmister versus Hasland’s very own Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor, and on this occasion, it was the lead singer out in front and the drummer behind as Port Vale came out on top in the ace of grades.
You have to say, the hosts were the better side on the day, they aced a Grade B. Darren Moore’s side missed out on an A Grade as we never were never really educated in how good, or not, their keeper was. Connor Riley juggled a bit early on, whacked a clearance into Armando Dobra then caught a couple, but there was no interest to be earned as there was no saving.
As for Town, sadly a re-sit will be needed. Grade F. Too much failing with passing, speed of thought, speed of action, possession in the final third, crossing and shooting. They scraped a Grade C with defending, a good job as, early on in particular, Vale did a lot of attacking, but the back line and ex-Vale keeper were pretty solid again. Bad hair day. Ironically, the referee was excellent though, Mr Hair was his name; when I saw that, I assumed Danny Webb must have bought a whistle!
Vale never let Chesterfield get going, they looked sharper and, most worryingly, hungrier, and whilst the game was played in a fantastic spirit (and atmosphere), the home players were always prepared to take one for the team, six yellows for the team in white, none waved at a blue man.
It was a bit of a National League Meet and Greet session. Scorer Ethan Chislett played against Spireites, and scored in both games for Aldershot Town in 2019/20, Lorent Tolaj, who never stopped pressing, passing or running, gave us plenty of headaches last season, also for Aldershot, the faultless on the day centre-half Connor Hall did the double over Chesterfield for Harrogate Town in the season they escaped non-league and his fellow defender Jesse Debrah twice beat Spireites as an FC Halifax Town player.
The key moment, early in the game but absolutely not against the run of play, had a hint of off-side about it. The highlights don’t give a camera angle that enables you to judge, but it looked off to me from my adjacent position in real time, though my commentary colleague Josh Marsh disagreed with that. Shows it was very close, whichever way. Post-match, Chey Dunkley also thought there was a chance it may have been off, but on or off, there was plenty of time left to do something about it and, sadly, the Spireites never really looked likely to equalise.
Will Grigg almost squeezed one in at the end of the first half, and the preceding 20 minutes had been Chesterfield’s best spell, but he fell awkwardly and had to be subbed. I’m no medic, but Will’s immediate reaction was one that indicated it wasn’t just a nasty knock and coupled with the bench’s reaction to bring on Kane Drummond during stoppage time rather than wait for a further assessment during half-time makes you feel he’ll not be in the squad for the Cheltenham Town game next week.
Drummond put himself about after the break, but got precious little service as Vale were happy to let Chesterfield have the ball in the middle third, and the visitors never really managed to get into dangerous final third positions.
On a big pitch, where control of central midfield and the delivery of passes to the flanks would have been what we expected to see from the boys in blue, that just didn’t happen enabling Vale to comfortably see the 100th competitive meeting between these two old rivals out, making it four straight defeats in Lemmy’s Land for Chesterfield. Let’s quickly forget it and seek to put things right against Cheltenham Town (Played 16, Spireites wins 10, Robins wins 2).
Once again, the pub chat will be about Tom Naylor and where he best suits the team. Defensively, he’s been faultless, but he was also faultless in the engine room last season. Will Fleck be ready? Will Paddy be ready? If Grigg’s out for a while, will Cookie nip down the dole office? Plenty of chit chat to be rolled out.
But, in the higher sphere, Chesterfield have been in every match for every minute. Never more than one goal behind at any stage. A steady if unspectacular start, W2 D2 L2, the team has been in the lead for 40% of the time in L2, level for 30% and behind for 30%, showing the basics are in place and the team just needs a little bit more cutting edge to go with the big step forward in solidity at the back (five conceded, last season after six games, 11 conceded).
Fingers crossed for Will.
Phil’s Positive: Fish and chips on the way home at Leek were bang on.
Next Match: Cheltenham Town (H), Saturday, September 21, EFL2, KO 12.30pm. Full commentary for subscribers on the new commentary platform (find details on Chesterfield FC website). Build-up from noon, half-time and post-match remains on the 1866 Sport App. The game will be broadcast on Sky Sports TV.
Chesterfield (4-2-3-1 to start): Boot; Tanton, Naylor, Dunkley, Gordon; Banks (Jones 82), Metcalfe (Araujo 82); Markanday (Jacobs 82), Dobra, Berry (Mandeville 64); Grigg (Drummond 45+3). Subs (not used): Thompson, Williams.
Goal: Chislett 11
Referee: Neil Hair
Bookings: John, Tolan, Stockley, Chislett, Garrity, Paton (Port Vale)
Attendance: 7,976 (1,434 from Chesterfield)
Banner Jones 1866 Sport Man of the Match: Dilan Markanday (chosen by Josh Marsh)
