Tooley’s Take

Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context

Salford City 0 Chesterfield 1

League Two Game #28

January had been a bit of a Rolling Stones month for Spireites, no satisfaction, but ironically their great musical rivals ensured Town had a bit of ‘Help’ when Brandon Cooper deflected Sam Curtis’s angled effort into the goal in the third minute of stoppage time. Good Vibrations in the away end!

You can’t beat an awayday smash and grab and this win, desperately needed for all sorts of reasons, was as Smashie and Nicey as they come. Let’s hope it signals their signature tune, ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’.

Stoppage time winners haven’t been regular staples of late, you have to go back to the early part of our NL championship season when Dorking, Hartlepool and Halifax were beaten, Quigley, Naylor and Quigley won those games at the death, but all were multi-goal games, all at home.

Last away last gasper? Colclough at Gateshead in a 2-1 win in March 2023. Last 1-0 away 90+ win was back in March 2017, when Reece Mitchell scored with virtually the last touch at Swindon Town, and with Chesterfield’s only shot on target, though Curtis Weston’s cracker won the game at Eastleigh, when Danny Webb was caretaker, in January 2022, but that screamer was just before the end of regulation time, not quite into the additional bits. They are great when they happen!

Did it feel like a season turner? The way the players reacted, you have to answer than in the positive, rarely at this stage of the season do players go quite as loopy as that when a goal is scored. It seemed to lift a massive weight from their collective souls.

Was the win deserved? Probably not, but who (bar Salford City) cares?

Back in 2001, Chesterfield won 1-0 at Reading, Jonathan Howard scored after ten minutes, and for the rest of the game, the Royals camped in Spireites territory, launching wave after wave of attacks. They’d got Jamie Cureton, John Salako and Nicky Forster in their ranks, they had great pedigree and were promoted, and I remember using a quote, from French philosopher Voltaire, ‘God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those with the best shot’ to describe the win’.

That quote, from the 1740s, could possibly be applied to this win. Hagi Mnoga, he of the Kabby Tshimanga incident at Weymouth, launched countless long-throws into Town’s penalty area, City pumped 83 long balls forwards, delivered 21 crosses, hit wood, missed good openings,whilst Spireites made 67 clearances and had to deal with 36 Salford forays into the box. Tough. Solid. Unspectacular. Ugly. Job done.

When the Spireites did break out, their passing, on a difficult pitch, was poor, only 55% accurate, mainly due to adapting to the game and delivering even more long balls than Karl Robinson’s side.

As the game stretched out towards the end, the home side seemed desperate to get the win and they left huge swathes of open space in the middle of the park and Paul Cook’s side began to take advantage. For once, the chaos on the park seemed to suit Chesterfield.

With 92 minutes on the clock, the battling nature of the Spireites’ performance came to the fore. Freddie Ladapo ferreting on the box-edge, Ryan Stirk winning a 40-60 against tackle, Tom Naylor in a shooting position but overlapping Curtis in a better one, inch perfect pass, shot (for me just sneaking in at the far post) and then the help of the deflection and the game was won. I’ll give Sam the goal, but others have said the prolific o.g. has got his fifth of the season!

Dilan Markanday, moments of magic, Armando Dobra, minutes in the tank, a clean sheet for a back four that has been different in each of the last six games, Liam Mandeville superb off the bench; there were positives, but there’s no doubting that spirit outshone skill on the night, no bad thing. And Zach made a couple of great saves, but that’s almost not worth saying as his stock continues to rise. It’s now a given.

Salford had marginally more possession and made marginally more passes than Paul Cook’s side, but that won’t be the case on Saturday as L2s champions of winning without having the ball, Walsall, roll into town looking to continue their domination over Chesterfield.

But only two wins in eight league games for Mat Sadler’s Saddlers, back to back home 0-0 results against Accrington and Crawley, just 30-odd per cent possession in both games and just three shots on target in the 180 minutes combined. Is this a good time to play them? A divisional high seven away wins indicates it won’t be easy.

If confidence is key, we can overlook a scrappy show at Salford and go into the weekend on a high, but get maximum points again next time out, and confidence will skyrocket as we then go into a seven game run all against sides below us in the current table.

A win v Walsall and a fantastic February? That’ll do nicely. As Mr Jagger said, Start Me Up.

Phil’s Positive: Three points, biggest positive you can have!

Next Match: Another tough as they come game on Saturday, January 31, kick-off at 3pm when promotion hopefuls Walsall visit the SMH Group Stadium. Listen to the build-up and on 1866 Sport from 2pm with commentary being on the subscription platform, then back on the App for After the Whistle. Hear from Gary Roberts, Tom Naylor, Chey Dunkley, Sam Curtis and Dylan Duffy in the After the Whistle podcastfrom after the Salford game.

Chesterfield (4–2–3-1 to start): Hemming; Curtis, Dunkley, Swinkels, Pearce; Naylor, Stirk; Markanday (Mandeville 78), Duffy (Dickson 56),Dobra; Bonis (Ladapo 78). Subs (not used); McFadzean, Berry, Grigg, Braybrooke.