Tooley’s Take

Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context

Cheltenham Town 0 Chesterfield 2

League Two Game #2

Last time the Spireites started an EFL season with back to back clean sheets? 2013/14, championship season. Second game that season? A 2-0 win against Cheltenham Town. It might not yet be #Cookball, but it’s very much looking like #Cookresults.

Still 44 to go, two wins against sides that may not be fancied to bother the top three slots, but the Spireites are out of the blocks well enough, with a sort of 4x100m relay qualifying mentality, where you just need to get round to earn the expected reward, but if you err, just a tiny bit, you’ll drop the baton.

Solid performances all round, nothing too spectacular, apart from Dylan Duffy’s free-kick goal and Kyle McFadzean’s 65-yard chip that required a last gasp tip over save by player-goalie-coach Joe Day, 72 years of life between them and that few seconds showed us some real old gold.

Fast and furious from the off, but more Ford Cortina than Mitsubishi Eclipse, adequate entertainment but you weren’t likely to have difficulty staying in your seat. But at least the Robins wanted to try to win, so there was space in there to be exploited. Dilan Markanday’s shot was well saved by Day, and Duffy hammered in the rebound from a very tight angle, but he was just offside and Armando Dobra, working hard, but he’s still not quite found the blue touch paper to launch his season, forced a goal-line clearance as the visitors edged the opening 45.

Second half. Goal. Argument. Duffy delivers, Lee Bonis with the coolest of flicks, goal-bound, Lewis Gordon steps up to make sure, the Bonis flick hits the inside of the post, then hits the left-back on his leg to roll over the line from a distance even Will Grigg would admit was pretty close. It needed to be put in, just ask Kane Drummond (if you don’t know what I mean, just search ‘Oldham, glaring miss’ and you’ll see what I mean).

Post-match chat, Bonis wants it, Gordon confirms he touched it in from a definite onside position. Lewis’s first ever pro-goal in over 100 games. ‘I’m not here to provide assists,’ fumed the Northern Irishman, standing next to his colleague. I think his tongue was in his cheek, but his eyes looked a bit mean!

Dobra won the free-kick that Duffy curled round the wall from around 27 yards. Having seen a half-volley from his own half by (was it) David Beckham, McFadzean looked like he was going to blast it, but the Republic’s Irishman on the park told me he reminded Kyle that his name was on Danny Webb’s piece of paper to take such things, and take it he did. Fantastic strike.

Between the goals, Chesterfield looked in total control, they ought to have bagged earlier, but after the second one, they didn’t just look to be in total control, they were in total control. Very comfortable, Cheltenham (seven yellows on the day), very frustrated, very much second best.

We saw a rare thing, a Zach Hemming save. He’s had three parts of next to nowt to do in a Spireites shirt so far, but the three parts of next to nowt that he’s had to deal with have been dealt with very well. Hope to keep it that way.

Chey Dunkley and VDC continue to look like two more top drawer new players after their injury travails last term and the real new player, sub Ronan Darcy, showed some bits of magic after coming on. It’s getting to the stage, even with only 180 minutes on the clock, that there’s no point mentioning Ryan Stirk and Tom Naylor in the engine room any more. Pretty much flawless, whilst assistor supreme Bonis never dipped from his tasks of harrying opponents. He picked up a yellow for stretching every sinew to try to get a touch on the ball before the keeper got there, getting a whack on the head for his troubles.

Early days, but this squad is starting to look like the real deal. The winning mentality in the changing room is incredible. On the night before the trip down the M5, like you do, I sat up in bed looking at the bookies’ top five promotion favourites and what ‘winners’ they had in their squads. Ahead of the fixtures, those teams were MK Dons, the favourites, Chesterfield, Gillingham, Bristol Rovers and Walsall.

I made the decision that I’d count up the number of ‘squad as a whole’ promotions those five clubs had within, plus ‘top flight championships,’ that’s a win at a level that you couldn’t win promotion from, for example Bonis has two Northern Ireland Premiership titles, so such things count. The more, the merrier, the higher the number, the higher the winning mentality.

Gillingham squad, 10 promotions, the Pirates have plundered 12, Walsall have saddled 14 winners and big spending MK have donned an impressive 22, plenty of winners there. Chesterfield? 39. That’s 39 examples of achieving what you set out to achieve. Impressive, unparalleled in League Two this season.

After two from two against League Two opponents, it’s time to try out League One. It’s over 11 years since Chesterfield last beat the Stags, nearly 17 since the last win in North Derbyshire, both of those two triumphs coming in knock-out competitions. Two 2-1 defeats so far this season for Nigel Clough’s side, both against local-ish clubs (Burton and Donny). Two ex-Spireites in their ranks, Jordan Bowery and Louis Reed, whilst Naylor and Stirk have trod the boards on the other side of the M1, both scored their first ever senior goals for Mansfield and, ironically, Bowery and Reed’s first ever goals were for Chesterfield.

The Spireites’ first round record in the League Cup since that phenomenal run in 2006 when Wolves (on pens), Man City and West Ham were beaten, before a penalty defeat against then Premier League Charlton has been: LLLLLLLLLLLL (that’s 12 to save you counting).

Can we break the internet and start the season with WWW.Suttonborn.Tom/R2?

Phil’s Positive: Two wins, two clean sheets, what’s not to be positive about, unless you think of a potential front four and their replacements of Markanday, Duffy, Dobra, Bonis, Mandeville, Darcy, Berry & Grigg. Flair-tastic!

Next Match: Struggling to remember! Oh yes, Tuesday, August 12 at home in the Carabao Cup First Round, against Mansfield Town, 7.45pm kick-off. All of the build-up on 1866 Sport from 7 o’clock, 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. For post-match reaction from Cheltenham from Danny Webb, Kyle McFadzean (aka David Beckham), Dylan Duffy, Lewis Gordon and Lee Bonis, listen to the Cheltenham edition of After the Whistle on the club’s podcast channels.

Chesterfield (4-2-3-1 to start): Hemming; Daley-Campbell, Dunkley, McFadzean, Gordon; Naylor (Dibley-Dias 86), Stirk; Markanday (Lewis 90+2), Duffy (Darcy 72), Dobra (Mandeville 72); Bonis (Grigg 72). Unused Subs: Boot, Sheckleford.