Tooley’s Take

Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context

Chesterfield 3 Colchester United 0

League Two Game #34

Happy New Year! It’s taken a dozen games in 2026 to get that elated feeling normally set aside for special occasions. Certainly when the party has been on Whittington Moor, the home games since the Big Ben chimes – against Bromley, Walsall, Harrogate Town and Gillingham – have all been a bit ‘meh’.

Regular readers will know I’m always positive, a natural optimist who’s been confident the club’s aims will be achieved this season, and performances like this one only serve to strengthen my resolve.

Colchester United, exactly the sort of team Town hate playing. Quick, direct, in your face, relentless, but on Tuesday night they were third best. The Spireites were pumped up and in full pomp, clear winners. Runner-up on the night? Referee Simon Mather, a fifth consecutive clean sheet for Chesterfield on his watch, clear as (a foggy) day handball by ex-Spireite Harvey Araujo, only Town’s second EFL penalty of the season and first successful one, and no-one (bar the away technical area who miles away, at least three yards), could have thought their player was fouled in the build-up to the second goal. The team that put six passed Chesterfield five months ago therefore picked up a Bronze medal.

Paul Cook changed his ingredients, five of them, including surprising most by giving 23-year-old Malik Owolabi-Belewu a debut at left-back, but the player who is normally a centre-back played a blinder, keeping one of the best players in League Two quiet. Ten-goal winger Kyreece Lisbie, one of the architects of our Colchester crumble earlier this season, rarely looked dangerous as Malik, supported really well by Sil Swinkels, shone like twin beacons in a very bright 90.

The Gaffer tweaked it, looked like 4-1-4-1 to me and Jamie Hewitt, with Sammy Braybrooke between the two fours, but Kieron Dyer put us right after the game, saying it was 4-3-3 with Tom Naylor and Ryan Stirk as twin #8s. Whatever it was, it meant the full-backs defended (and defended really well) and the wide men, James Berry and Dilan Markanday, looked to switch into the central areas when they could. Most importantly, it worked well and it meant Colchester were only rarely able to work.

Lady luck supported the penalty. I think it was because Araujo leaned in to block the cross in from the overlapping Stirk. I would have been pretty frustrated if we’d conceded for the same offence. Will Grigg hit hard and successfully to mean he’s scored penalties in the Championship, League One, National League and now League Two, plus the FA Cup and League Cup, 28 in total (plus four missed!)

The key second goal was a cracker. Solid challenge on Lisbie, Berry then made rapid ground, surrounded by Brazil kitted United players (bit of a chim-chiminey vibe), he turned, looped it to Braybrooke, a lay-off to Markanday, left-foot, boom. The SMH goal I’ve popped on my possible Goal of the Season short-list since Dilan’s strike against Fleetwood Town in October, like this one, a well–crafted team goal.

Colchester, desperate for a win to get into the play-off mix, had a few moments, not many and none of them very dangerous, but they couldn’t match Chesterfield off the bench as subs Dylan Duffy and Lee Bonis combined to kill off the contest and enable the Northern Irishman to bag goal #13 in his first season in England.

We then welcomed to our stadium the longed-for face of ‘Game Management’ who’s not visited us too often of late. His twin brother has been brilliant when appearing for the opposition this season, but our representative of that family has been somewhat shaky, ensuring the likes of Harrogate, Walsall and Accrington all bagged points on our grass, whilst in away games at Crawley, Crewe and Tranmere in particular, the Management lad was very disappointing!

Tip-top Town need to show up again on Saturday against Shrewsbury Town, who’ve had a massive bout of newmanageritis of late. The Shrews were just two points above the drop-zone when Gavin Cowan took over from Michael Appleton at the end of January. A run of five straight wins lifted them well clear, though that welcome burst was ended on Saturday with a narrow 2-1 home loss against Walsall, a game which saw defender Josh Ruffels, formerly with Oxford and Huddersfield, red-carded, so he’ll be suspended. That will probably see ex-Spireite Tom Anderson return to a team which also features Sam Clucas.

But with 33 points to play for, a new peg-in-the-ground has been well and truly placed. We need 11 more performances like Tuesday night, crisp passing, chances created, chances taken, clean sheet, then who knows what might happen? After seemingly 40 WDs we now need superfast, super reliable broadband, www.www.continue. Buckle up for what will hopefully be a memorable ride.

Phil’s Positive: Best performance of 2026; up there with the Boxing Day win over Notts County for control over a 90-minute period.

Next Match: Saturday, March 7, back at home for Shrewsbury Town, with a 3pm kick-off at the SMH Group Stadium. Listen to the build-up on 1866 Sport from 2pm with commentary being on the subscription platform, then back on the App for After the Whistle. Hear Kieron Dyer, Malik Owolabi-Belewu, Will Grigg and Tom Naylor in the Colchester edition.

Chesterfield (4–3–3 to start): Hemming; Curtis, McFadzean, Swinkels, Owolabi-Belewu (Donacien 74); Braybrooke, Naylor, Stirk; Markanday(Mandeville 81), Berry (Duffy 69), Grigg (Bonis 69). Subs (not used); Lewis, Dickson, Dobra.