Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context
Crawley Town 1 Chesterfield 1
League Two Game #33
My Dad smoked all of his life and one of his go-to brands was Player’s No.6. There was smoke coming from my ears when Jay Williams headed home Ronan Darcy’s cross on 90+5 (of the four additional minutes) to notch Crawley Town’s first goal in eight hours of play and give the Spireites a third in six feelings of a draw tasting like an unfiltered defeat. What a drag.
Chesterfield’s players created the most gilt-edged chances in a match for ages, it should have been that ‘someone sometime is going to get a tonking’ sort of day, but the players missed golden chance after golden chance. Players missed 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and when No.6 wasn’t taken, I kept looking in the crowd for Joey Barton to see if he was stubbing out the chances.
Odds for Bonis AND Markanday AND Grigg to all miss great chances? Zillions to one, whilst Dunkley, Bonis again and Dobra would nearly always have scored from other prime positions. Nowt to do with the manager, coaches, back four or referee.
On top, tip-top chances, far from top-notch finishing and a finish to the game that toppled a top six resting place. Never has 12 points from six games felt so deflating.
It was a barking mad game. Crawley went gung-ho after about ten minutes, at one early stage leaving three up when defending a corner, and Town had just Curtis and Stirk marking them. They pumped the ball into the box time and again, but a bit like on Tuesday against Gillingham, Spireites were largely controlled and not looking vulnerable.
Ironically the goal that was bagged by the Blues was a just outside the box shot from Liam Mandeville that clipped the head of defender Jonny Russell, not even a half-chance, but Chesterfield’s No.7 was made-up with his excellent work (from ciggies to cosmetics in one!)
Throughout the 90 minutes, too many loose passes, towards the very end, too many thoughts about getting a second rather than preventing a Crawley first. Tom Naylor showed what you needed to do, stoppage time, ball to him on the right wing, no obvious ball forwards, so ensure it goes back to Zach Hemming. Game management. A bit later James Berry clears, ball almost in orbit, lots of time to get under it to be a nuisance, only a Crawley man there. Even later, Sammy Braybrooke up high, spots a possible through-ball, intercepted, the Red Devils surge forwards and before you know it, all square. Plenty of good decisions, but not enough thought at critical times.
That’s 16 points dropped from leading positions (just ten picked up after being behind). Walsall, Harrogate and now Crawley in the last six games, feels like Beverley Knight time; and the lass from Wolverhampton so completely summed up the match: ‘And how I wish I’d done a little bit more, Now shoulda woulda coulda means I’m out of time. Shoulda woulda coulda can’t change your mind. And I wonder what I’m gonna do. Shoulda woulda coulda are the last words of a fool, yeah.’ Top vocalist, and she’s sung in the lounges at the SMH Group Stadium, so she knows her footy.
We need a Barnet bounce-back. Four wins and a draw in the last six visits to The Hive. Town’s away record this season is better than Barnet’s home record and Dean Brennan’s Bees have lost their last two games, 4-1 at Colchester and 2-1 at home to Swindon. They’ve got Kabby Tshimanga in their ranks whilst Idris Kanu and Britt Assombalonga are always tough cookies to contain.
The improvement at Chesterfield since the January window has been significant, just one defeat in ten in 2026, but too many dropped points from leading positions (add Oldham to the three already mentioned) are costing the team and hurting the challenge. Hold those leads, add on eight points, level with third placed Notts and fourth placed Swindon. But they’re gone now, it’s about the final 13. Two points a game from those equals 79, which would have been good enough for third place last season.
Now it’s coming to crunch time for more teams than just Chesterfield, I had a gut feel that we’re a team that seems to finish well when more teams need to win for a variety of reasons, and having looked at club historian Stuart Basson’s excellent statistical website, since the club moved to Whittington Moor, that stacks up.
In 15 completed seasons, in the final ten games, the Spireites have improved their league position in eight of those campaigns; four of them the position remained the same, and in three of those four, that was top with ten to go and finished top, so you can’t improve! Just three when things got worse, two of those were relegation seasons (that’s not happening this time) and the other still ended up with a play-off place. When others want to win, Chesterfield tend to win more often.
My confidence is still intact, my belief that we tend to end well is confirmed and if we create six more gilt-edged chances at Barnet or any other game this season, take a tip from me, three points will be assured.
Phil’s Positive: The number of chances created, but hugely disappointing that six bangers turned out to be damp squibs.
Next Match: Saturday, February 28, it’s down to North London for Barnet, with a 3pm kick-off at The Hive. Listen to the build-up on 1866 Sport from 2pm with commentary being on the subscription platform, then back on the App for After the Whistle. Hear Paul Cook, Sil Swinkels and Tom Pearce in the Crawley edition.
Chesterfield (4-2-3-1 to start): Hemming; Curtis, Dunkley, Swinkels, Pearce; Braybrooke, Stirk; Markanday (Naylor 76), Mandeville (Dobra 58), Duffy (Berry 58); Bonis (Grigg 58). Subs (not used); McFadzean, Dickson, Donacien.
Goals: Mandeville 39 (Chesterfield), Williams 90+5 (Crawley)
Referee: Paul Howard
Bookings: Mandeville, Stirk (Chesterfield), Bajrami, Gordon, Russell, T.Richards (Crawley)
Attendance: 3,250 (461 from Chesterfield)
1866 Sport Man of the Match: Ryan Stirk (chosen by Josh Marsh)
