Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context
Yeovil Town 2 Chesterfield 2 National League Match #9
The fizz of Tuesday’s champagne football dissipated somewhat as the Spireites put in their flattest performance of the season in the heart of cider country. Sparking chardonnay to bruised Bramley’s in four days.
That said, who wouldn’t take an all-time club-record equalling nine games unbeaten from the start of the season (1935-36, a championship season, started with five draws and four wins), leaving Town as the NL’s only unbeaten club as Notts lost at Dorking Wanderers. Jamie Grimes and Jez Uchegbulam became the tenth and eleventh different Spireites scorers this term (Solihull’s nine scorers next highest to date), with the former Matlock man being the 100th different scoring sub in the club’s history (Stuart Basson dug that one out. Enjoy your retirement, Stu – more time for super stats!)
And who wouldn’t take an away draw when you’re 2-1 down going into the 88th minute, having been far from your best, our first late goal of the season and evidence of plenty of heart and soul in the camp. A third draw this season, and all have been 2-2, but this was the first one that the team hasn’t led in.
Just to put the general dominance of Paul Cook’s side this season to date, in the nine games under their belt, Town have led for 444 minutes but trailed for just 29, so it’s been advantage Spireites for around 55% of game time (for a benchmark, second-placed Wrexham have led for 47.5% of the time and trailed for 138 minutes).
Yeovil were much better than I expected, and the better side on the day. Their front three posed a constant threat, their clever use of the long ball was troublesome throughout, and their defence put in an almighty shift as they made it five draws (including a point against Wrexham) from their nine outings. They may not be winning week in, week out, but they’re tough to beat and they managed to negate any flowing football from the table toppers by sheer hard work, grit and determination.
In the final analysis, Chesterfield were off it and pretty fortunate to notch another point in the far right-hand column, but it was a point earned on a day that top-ten wins were notably thin on the ground.
A bit of a scrappy start with Tyrone Williams and Lucas Covolan looking like they were overcoming a scrumpy-fest, but the skipper was soon on hand with the hair of the dog (or should that be hair of a god?) to ease the early hangover.
The next 70 minutes were tough to watch, with the Glovers’ front-three causing plenty of problems and frequently pinning back the league leaders, whilst the home middle-men pressed as if their lives depended on it. Thankfully their passing was more White Lightning, rough and ready, rather than 50 Cents worth of Cristal clear finery with, thankfully, precious little hangover inducing hip-hopping through the Spireites’ fizz-free rearguard.
It all looked over when a deep cross was recycled by Ben Richards-Everton, enabling Josh Staunton to poke home, adding to Gime Toure’s opportunist early strike. Town managed to bounce back again from another set-play, but both Jeff King’s delivery and sub George Cooper’s touch were both a load of Bulmers and not the outcome of hours on the training ground! The quickest reaction came from Jez, who pounced on the loose ball to ensure a point was banked by Chesterfield as he opened his scoring account in pro-football.
The raw youngster is rapidly becoming a game-changer, his introduction against Southend was pivotal and his pace late in a game must be frightening for tired defensive legs. Michael Gyasi too looked lively, his introduction seeing Cook’s Plan B of 4-4-2 coming into operation. At this point, I could do a bit of a play on song titles, but my knowledge of rapper Plan B’s back catalogue is somewhat limited, and having looked up his discography, fitting his #1 album ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’ into any report would be tough, almost as tough as my co-commentator Mike Jones having to select the Netcoms Man of the Match on 1866 Sport. The midfielder, after much deliberation (no candidates in truth) chose Ollie, who no doubt is a distant relative of the aforementioned Strickland. Result!
Maidens ahead; stone away next week then head home. Laurence Maguire is the only current squad member to have worn the Spireites colours at the Gallagher Stadium in Kent, in a 1-1 draw back in September 2018, when Marc Antoine-Fortune equalised 12 minutes before the end in the first of that bizarre run of nine consecutive NL draws. If you think Yeovil was bad, just remember those times!
Phil’s Positive: No question about the main positive, putting in the lowest key performance of the season and returning home with a point, with the NL’s now only unbeaten record intact.
The Spireites’ next game is on the plastic pitch at Maidstone United on Saturday, September 24, kick-off 3pm. Can’t get, or even going? Full match build-up on 1866 Sport Live starts at 2pm, so listen via the App, Smart Speaker or online.
Team v Yeovil (4-2-3-1 to start): Covolan; King, Williams, Grimes, Horton; Oldaker, Banks; Mandeville (Cooper 84), Clarke (Gyasi 70), Miller (Uchegbulam 67); Quigley.
Subs (not used): Maguire, Akinola
Goals: Grimes 8, Uchegbulam 88 (Chesterfield), Toure 4, Staunton 80 (Yeovil)
Referee: Elliot Swallows
Booked: Williams, Miller (Chesterfield), Smith, Worthington (Yeovil)
Chesterfield boss Paul Cook also received a yellow card, whilst two yellows were shown post-match amongst a crowd of players. Likely to have been Uchegbulam and Reckord, but Jez was not aware he had been booked, so will seek to clarify when the referee’s report is received.
Attendance: 2,672 (367 from Chesterfield)
Netcoms IT 1866 Sport Man of the Match: Ollie Banks (chosen by Mike Jones)
