The Spireites won well at The Walks with a goal in each half from Kabongo Tshimanga giving them a 2-0 victory over King’s Lynn Town, the first from the penalty spot and the second a cool poke home from close range.
Three wins from three outings and two more goals from Tshimsnga sealed another big three points for the Spireites who have yet to concede a goal in the league and stay second in the table after just three teams retain their 100% record.
An early goal in each half knocked the spirit out of the Linnets, who fought hard throughout and played some cultured football but lacked that incisive touch
The Spireites made four changes from the Wealdstone game on Saturday: George Carline, Jak McCourt, Liam Mandeville and Stefan Payne started as Jeff King, Saidou Khan, Jack Clarke and Danny Rowe stepped aside with three of those missing out making the bench.
Both teams came into the game fresh from morale-boosting victories and both carried that confidence forward to create a lively, evenly matched, opening period. The first action of note came from two testing long throws from Carline who caused a threat but no real danger.
With ten minutes gone, ex-Spireite Tyler Denton went close; out wide on the left he spotted keeper Scott Loach far enough out to try his luck. Thankfully, his effort flew narrowly over.
The game turned on its head, appropriately, in the 13th minute when the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot after Liam Mandeville was fouled. Tshimanga blasted coolly home straight down the middle for his second goal in three starts.
The goal gave the Spireites a renewed confidence and they continued to push forward with McCourt firing a free kick from 25 yards wide of the left-hand upright.
The home side were awarded a controversial corner just after the half-hour mark. McCourt saved well on the line from a goalbound Kyle McFadden dead ball; Tshimanga broke strongly from the clearance and put Calvin Miller clear. Sadly his first touch failed him as his shot was blocked by Pierce Bird who covered well.
With less than one minute gone in the second period, the Spireites doubled their lead. It all started from a free- kick just inside the half and ended with Laurence Maguire feeding Carline who laid on a neat low ball for Tshimanga to toe-poke home from close range.
The Linnets almost pulled one back five minutes later when Ethan Coleman went close with a strong header.
The Spireites were denied a third in the 51st minute after Miller whipped in a great ball only for the home keeper to pull off a stunning save from Carline’s bullet header.
Shortly after, great work by Payne allowed Miller to provide a teasing low ball in with Carline just failing to connect.
King’s Lynn continued to press and a neat Clunan effort from inside the area forced Loach into an alert save.
A few minutes later, Clunan was in action again and provided a superb cross into the area only for Denton to claim a foul as the defence cleared. Referee Robert Massey-Ellis rightly showed no interest.
Three quick substitutions by James Rowe added some new spark for the remainder of the contest and possibly triggered a confrontation thar saw both Spireites substitute Danny Rowe and Linnets’ lively number eight McFadden receive the inevitable yellow card.
Chesterfield saw out the game comfortably and will be happy with another job well done.
Spireites: Loach, Carline, Miller, Gunning, Maguire, Kerr (Grimes), Weston, McCourt, Mandeville (Clarke), Tshimanga, Payne (Rowe)
Unused substitutes: Khan & Whittle
