Tooley’s Take

Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context  

Chesterfield 2 Walsall 2

League Two Game #10

Four teams sit atop League Two with 19 points. Walsall head them all, best team we’ve played, and we wrestled a very tough point. Gillingham are second, we lost there but were clearly the better side and had a perfectly good goal chalked off. Donny are fourth, the terrific day there is still fresh in all of our minds. Barrow complete the quartet – they visit us next month. 

What that says to me is we’re there or thereabouts. Nothing too wrong, nothing too far away from where it needs to be. Paul Cook’s side haven’t been more than a single goal down at any time at their new level. Walsall have, Gillingham have, Barrow have, Doncaster Rovers have. A bit of patience needed and a few Ds will turn into Ws. 

Another thing to note is that 19 (which is only five more points than the Spireites’ tally). That’s 1.9 points per game. Liverpool head the Premier League with over 2.5 ppg, Sunderland and Sheffield United are at 2.1 ppg in the Championship and League One is headed by a Birmingham City side with 2.4 ppg. What’s that mean? It means we’re in a very level, everyone can beat everyone sort of game. 

Last season, when we ran away with the National League, we had a massive 25 points after ten games, the season before that, Wrexham had 23 at this stage. No one is running away with it, all outcomes remain possible and can feasibly be achieved. Squad strength in depth will come to the fore more and more as the campaign continues, and the Gaffer, on 63 minutes, brought on Madden, Colclough, Berry and Metcalfe. If this was a game of cards, I bet few other L2 sides would be shouting ‘snap’.

After their 6-2 midweek reversal, I was surprised how positive Walsall were right from the start. I was also surprised how skittish we were on the ball. There was a little switch that saw Liam Mandeville at right-back when we were defending and Tom Naylor drop back there when we were attacking, but thought of early attacking were negated by a magnificent and energetic team press from the Saddlers, starting with their two big lads up top, the always awkward Jamile Matt and the youthful vigour of two-goal scorer Nathan Lowe. 

The manner of their first goal was reward for their effervescence, which had forced several heebie-jeebies amongst those in blue, when one of Town’s stars of the season, DJ, instinctively back passed but hadn’t spotted Chey Dunkley’s former Kidderminster Harriers team-mate. He received, shot, keeper Max Thompson, on his Chesterfield league debut saved, but Stoke City loanee Lowe converted the loose ball. Oldaker looked devastated. 

Chesterfield came into things a bit more and Walsall made a mistake of their own when another Stoke loanee, Tommy Simkin, handled a back pass just inside the area. Indirect free-kick, 11 defenders across the goal, almost impossible to penetrate, but Naylor’s tap to Oldaker saw him run back to his own half, clearly emotional that he’d atoned for his earlier slipup. I was delighted for him every bit as much as I was delighted for the team. 

That was virtually the last action of the first half, and with virtually the first action of the second half, Chesterfield slipped behind again, Liam Gordon’s through ball being converted well by Lowe. 

A quadruple substitution brought a formation change to something akin to 3-2-4-1 and within minutes the introduced Colclough and Berry combined to set up Dilan Markanday to equalise, a very well worked goal. 

Whilst Chesterfield continued to threaten, Walsall broke out of defence several times and every raid looked dangerous, enough for Cook to make a final late change to seemingly protect the points, switching back to a back four. 

A word for Naylor in the changes. He started as a holding midfielder that switched regularly with right-back Mandeville. He also appeared as an attacking midfielder, right centre-back in a three and right centre-back in a four. Utility or what? 

Thompson made a number of solid saves and caught a few balls well but, like most of the home team, he had an uneasy moment or two. For me his highlight was a superb tackle late on just outside his box to deny a potential Walsall winner.  

Few left the ground feeling that was anything other than a point gained for Chesterfield and whilst another home draw may be irritating, it seemed to be universally agreed that we were up against our best EFL2 opponents to date, and the table suggests that’s bang on. 

Lunch time with Notts next week. Their key man Jodi Jones is injured and the experienced  David McGoldrick hasn’t been involved in the last couple of matches, not sure why. County lost at home, 1-0 to Port Vale, at the weekend. Hopefully, the Spireites will leave nothing to chance (thanks Mike Jones) and we can pull off what would be an altogether inwardly satisfying win.  

Phil’s Positive: Second best for long periods against the best side we’ve played to date, but the game ended with a good point in the bag, with no small part played by a very strong bench. 

Next Match: Notts County (H), Saturday, October 12, EFL2, KO 12.30pm. Full commentary for subscribers on the new commentary platform (find details on Chesterfield FC website). Build-up from noon, half-time and post-match remains on the 1866 Sport App. The game will be shown on Sky Sports.

Chesterfield (4-2-3-1 to start): Thompson; Mandeville (Colclough 63), Dunkley, Araujo (Berry 63), Gordon; Oldaker (Metcalfe 63), Naylor; Markanday (Daley-Campbell 89), Banks, Dobra; Grigg (Madden 63). Subs (not used): Boot, Grimes.

Goals: Oldaker 46+1, Markanday 67 (Chesterfield), Lowe 33, 46 (Walsall)

Referee: Seb Stockbridge 

Bookings: none

Attendance: 9,035 (1,019 from Walsall)

Galaxy Travel 1866 Sport Man of the Match: Tom Naylor (chosen by Jamie Hewitt)