Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context
Chesterfield 2 Carlisle United 1
League Two Game #39
Biggest wins in 2024/25:
Champions League; Bayern Munich 9 Dinamo Zagreb 2. Bayern possession 70%, Bayern shots 29, Dinamo shots 4.
Premier League; Nottingham Forest 7 Brighton & Hove Albion 0. Forest possession 37% (not a misprint), Forest shots 14, Brighton shots 10.
EFL; Leeds United 7 Cardiff City 0. Leeds possession 58%, Leeds shots 29, Cardiff shots 2.
FAC proper; Manchester City 8 Salford City 0. Man City possession 68%, Man City shots 20, Salford shots 10.
Spireites; Crewe Alexandra 0 Chesterfield 5. Town possession 62%, Town shots 21, Crewe shots 13.
Bog standard score; Chesterfield 2 Carlisle United 1. Town possession 81%, Town shots 38, Carlisle shots 4.
It doesn’t matter how you say it; totale herrschaft (German), dominiad llwyr (Welsh), totalna dominacija (Croatian), by ‘eck lad, we mullered ‘em (Yorkshire), the win over Carlisle United translates to total domination. And only Chesterfield could then almost muck it up!
Goal #1, relief around S41 8NZ. Goal #2, a satisfied and considered hush around the stadium. 89 minutes, Man United loanee Joe Hugill nicks skip’s loose pass, total panic, 90+4 corner conceded, dare not look, peep peep peep, how did we almost throw that away? It’s Town, what do you expect?
It could have been four / five / six / seven……. keep on going, the stats above indicate it could easily have been even more. This was indeed total domination North Derbyshire style. A quick run through social media indicated no one on the planet had ever seen such a dominant performance (unless you watched England Women’s 20-0 win over Latvia a year or two ago), but it still only ended 2-1, a scoreline every Spireite would have accepted a kick-off time, particularly when combined with Grimsby losing plus Colchester and Salford failing to win. Four points of seventh with a game in hand. Nice.
Carlisle, seemingly set for a second straight trapdoor fall, we know what that feels like, had the sort of day you only get when the rot has well and truly set in. Lost a player in the warm-up. Lost a player to a nose bleed that wouldn’t stop. His sub sent off before half time after just 11 minutes on the park. Captain and top scorer Sam Lavelle lost to injury before the break. But they battled on and defended like heroes, keeper Breeze blocked 12 shots, his defenders stopped 10 between them, Spireites had 59 touches in the Carlisle box compared to four at the other end.
Yet it took until minute 74 for Liam Mandeville to open the scoring ahead of Paddy Madden’s goal on 81, another off the bench, with both goals exemplifying the mayhem witnessed in the United box throughout the game. Jensen Metcalfe effort saved, rebound scored, Armando Dobra whacks the bar, rebound headed in. M&M, sweet.
The second half in particular, with the Kop in full voice, was incredible. I’ve seen a fair few games in my time and few 45 minutes have been like that. It started with seven corners in the first seven minutes after the restart and carried on in a breathless fashion, odd breather apart, until the relief of the final whistle.
John Fleck. Quality. Has that individual performance been bettered this season? Just at this moment in time, I’m struggling to think of a more dominant show from anyone in a blue shirt. Michael Olakigbe. Wow. After switching to the left for the second half, his performance was mesmerising. He told me afterwards he’d never enjoyed a match as much. Liam Mandeville. He played just like Liam Mandeville. No need to explain further. I could do a similar account for every single player, but anyone who watched or listened to the game knows that, until the nervous nineties, it was a pretty perfect team performance. And if you’re going to make a mistake, do it when you’re two up right near the end. Phew.
Red card? I didn’t shout up at the immediate moment, but those who had close eyes on it said it was a bit nasty. Even at that point, Chesterfield were dominant, 79% possession in the first half, but as we know, ahead of this game, Spireites had failed to win any EFL game this season where they’d had more than 70% of the ball. By the end of this game the count was 81%, so it’s the 70s we want to avoid!
A satisfying evening, but that adjective hasn’t readily been applied to trips to Tranmere Rovers in our last few visits. In all competitions it’s been a run of LLLLL at Prenton Park. Rovers lost on Tuesday having been unbeaten in six (three wins) under new manager Andy Crosby, who like Mark Hughes for Carlisle, is their third gaffer of the season after Ian Dawes and Nigel Adkins were both given the heave-ho in September and February respectively.
With ex-Spireites Kristian Dennis and Saidou Khan in their squad, Rovers have better players than their league position suggests and being just four points ahead of next to bottom Morecambe, they are desperate for points to shake off their fear of falling back into the National League, from which they escaped as we went down. No team in the bottom half of the table has conceded fewer home goals than Tranmere, so it looks like Paul Cook’s side may have to be patient once again.
Rovers rivals Morecambe (two wins in two) travel to seventh-placed Grimsby Town (one home win in four), Chesterfield’s target team. That game kicks off at 3pm, so whatever the score at Prenton Park, both sets of fans will be wanting a very different outcome over on the East coast.
Grigg back, McFadzean and Araujo just about ready, five wins and a draw in six, are Spireites going to be that team that arrives late at the party? Let’s hope that later on Saturday, the ante-post favourite in the Grand National at Aintree, Stumptown, is the only time a phrase along those lines is used on the day on Merseyside.
Phil’s Positive: Hitting form at just the right time.
Next Match: Saturday, April 5 at old rivals Tranmere Rovers. The match kicks-off at 12.45pm. All of the build-up on 1866 Sport from noon, then onto the commentary platform (find details on Chesterfield FC website), with half-time and After the Whistle remaining on the 1866 Sport App, online and on smart speaker. All After the Whistle shows, with the first and most comprehensive post-match analysis, are available as podcasts on the club’s official channels. Post Carlisle, hear from Michael Olakigbe, Paddy Madden, John Fleck and Danny Webb.
Chesterfield (4-2-3-1 to start): Boot; Mandeville, Palmer, Grimes, Gordon; Fleck (Oldaker 75), Metcalfe; Banks (Jacobs 83), Dobra (Colclough 83), Olakigbe (Duffy 83); Grigg (Madden 75). Unused Subs: Thompson, Pepple.
Goals: Mandeville 74, Madden 81 (Chesterfield), Hugill 89 (Carlisle)
Referee: Andrew Humphries
Bookings: Thomas, Hugill (Carlisle). A member of United’s coaching staff was also booked.
Sending-off: Embleton 40, straight red (Carlisle)
