Two Blyth Spartans goals were sandwiched in between strikes from Charlesworth and O’Connor for Chesterfield U19s in a 2-2 draw, earning the young Spireites their third draw of the campaign. With the Spireites behind, a last-ditch effort from O’Connor found the back of the net to equalise.
It was a tale of the two goalkeepers in the first half, despite the lack of clear-cut chances.
The first opportunity of the game fell to Wood in the 17th minute, as Blakeley fed the forward, but the pass was overhit and the frustration began to set in.
The Spartans had a carbon copy of Chesterfield’s opening moments later, with Preston rushing out quickly to shut down the throughball.
Just after the half-hour mark, it seemed almost impossible for the young Spireites not to score,
as Wood was sent through once again. The keeper was quick out of his area and was left with no choice but to lunge into the tackle, winning the ball cleanly.
Pandemonium ensued soon after. With the keeper still stranded, he was forced to make several blocks without his hands, before a Spartans player gave away a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the box.
The resulting free-kick forced the keeper into action once again, flying to his left to deny Chesterfield their golden opportunity of the first half.
The second half was far more open, with Charlesworth grabbing a goal five minutes into the half.
Wood carried the ball up the pitch on the counter-attack, before feeding Charlesworth (50) to finish under the keeper.
Wood should have added to his contributions two minutes later, shaking off a couple of Spartans defenders in the box but rocketed his attempt over the crossbar.
That looked to be a crucial miss as the Spartans levelled the scoring after 56 minutes.
Despite Chesterfield having full control of the game and creating the major chances, Blyth Spartans took the lead from a corner (68).
With the last kick of the game, O’Connor (90) smashed the ball home to claim a deserved point. You could almost hear the sigh of relief from the Spireites.
