Tooley’s Take

Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context

Aldershot Town 1 Chesterfield 1 National League Match #29

The Spireites played a new variant of tic-tac-toe at The Rec, nearly the same, but more nought from crosses rather than noughts and crosses.

Time and again, particularly in a dominant second half, Town players worked their way into solid positions. Time and again, from deep, from wide, from the goal line, from free-kicks and corners, and from just about everywhere else on the park, The Spireites were on the money, but the final delivery into the box was sadly disappointing.

Add to that a frequent reluctance to shoot and the battle of the X-O grid ended as a stalemate, a rare Chesterfield draw, but at least there was some reward and a 14th game unbeaten against the Shots.

The two changes worked well, Sheckleford and McCallum were excellent, and I’ll be amazed if both don’t start by the airport on Saturday. Tim Akinola continued his fine form, but as a Gunner, he ought to know he needs to shoot more.

In six of the previous seven NL games, Paul Cook’s side conceded first, and that happened again, with a Chesterfield attack fizzling out with an error, a quick ball through the two defenders and 20-year-old Hutchinson outpaced his chasers to slot passed Fitzsimons, who once again, had a very solid game.

Front foot starts are essential, but equally crucial are not giving the ball away when you’re fully committed to attack. For the record, the Spireites have scored first in 15 NL games this season, 12 have been won, three drawn, none lost!

Whilst the frustration continues, don’t think it was a forgone conclusion at Aldershot, they’d only lost one in eight in all competitions before this match, with 15 goals scored in that run and three clean sheets kept.

Since stepping up to the managerial hotseat in early December, Ross McNeilly has seen the Surrey side reach the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy and move a bit further away from the drop-zone and a bit closer to the play-offs, they have started to move in the right direction.

That said, Town should have taken all of the available points home on the bus, Aldershot parked theirs in more and more awkward places as the game wore on and, on the night, despite bossing things again, the visitors couldn’t find the keys to shift it out of the way.

Keeper busy, rarely tested. Defence akin to a bear hunt, Town couldn’t go over it, couldn’t go under it, couldn’t go around it, and the many attempts to go through it saw the bear in charge and the hunters get ever more grizzly.

Away draws are normally seen as solid results, semi-precious gems, and the point from Aldershot has got us a point nearer to our new target of third spot, but as I drove along the M4 to South Wales (only one motorway closure, so a 1am hotel check-in ahead of a 9am work meeting in the Tonypandy valleys), my overriding emotion was one of disappointment, not despair as many have been expressing on social media, but we should have won that game. Comfortably.

We should have won against Notts, we should have won at Boreham Wood, we shouldn’t have lost 3-0 at Barnet. We rightly lost against Woking – you should lose when you play that bad – but there have been too many ‘should-have’ games of late,

An odd one, fine, they happen, but whatever the collective noun for ‘should-haves’ is, we shouldn’t have had to worry about such a thing. A quick look down a list of collective nouns shows that a loads of mosquitoes is called a scourge, so I’m putting it out there that a downhill turn in football rewards, when related to performances, should be a ‘scourge of should-haves’. Susie Dent, take note, it’s now official.

Three wins from their last 16 NL games has seen Solihull Moors slip into mid-table, but they got a hard earned point at Boreham Wood on Tuesday, and with Howe and Osborne in the fray, Dobs and co need to stay disciplined and the sharp end will have to deal with a fine keeper in Ryan Boot.

Their attacking options include Kelly, who destroyed us for Maidenhead last season and Beck, a troublesome man in his Harrogate days, though our own Tom Whelan will be a spectator for the game.

Barnet visit Torquay and Woking are at Altrincham, but their results would become almost irrelevant if Town return home with the prize and re-enthuse the faithful to enable ahead of next Tuesday’s home encounter with Wealdstone.

Phil’s Positive: It’s not a ‘L’ in the results column, plus Paul McCallum’s first goal and Tim & Shecks’ continued form.

The Spireites’ next game is on Saturday, February 18, 2023, when we make the long trip to Solihull Moors, kick-off 3pm; 1866 Sport will be live at the stadium from 2pm with ex-Spireite Tony Brien in the co-comms seat.

Chesterfield (4-2-3-1 to start): Fitzsimons; Sheckleford, Palmer, Grimes, Horton (Maguire 90+3); Banks, Jones; Dobra, Mandeville(Colclough 76), Akinola; McCallum (Quigley 76). Subs (not used): Williams, Oldaker.