Tooley’s Take

Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context

Chesterfield 0 Oldham Athletic 3

League Two Game #38

It was all a bit Snow White (a Grimm fairytale of course). Sleepy and Dopey in the team, Grumpy in the home stands, Happy in the away section, Doc having to treat Will Grigg, Bashful in the dugout whilst sneezy can’t go two games without falling foul of some repeated weakness.

Ref’s whistle, Oldham work.

High-Low, How-Low, It’s how Spireites work you know. They’re big, big, big, big, big, big, big in our minds the whole day through. Then sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sometimes we’ve got no clue.

Some day when Spring is here, we’ll find our love renewed, and the Kop will sing, and bells will ring, that day promotion comes through.Need to be better than this though for that to happen.

Town need to ditch Grimm and be a bit more Hans Christian Anderson. The Ugly Duckling needs to transform into a beautiful swan and glide through the remaining eight scheduled fixtures. We lost a shoe on Saturday but found out what true love was like by the end of the day.

We need to ditch the Beast and just be Beautiful, climb the beanstalk to reach to top or ignore Mummy and Daddy Bear’s running hot or cold and rapidly find some Baby Bear consistency. Trouble is, there’s been that many twists and turns in this season’s story, no-one knows how it will end, no-one knows who’s most likely to be the hero we all crave so desperately.

First half, Greek Mythology. Blooming Achilles Heel. We need a team of multiple Spartacus’s, willing to put their hand up and take responsibility, perform as a team rather than as a bunch of individuals.

Second half, better but not enough bite and when there was a bit of hope, just a bit more huff and puff from The Latics, and the game was blown away in an instant.

Ex-Spireites Kane Drummond and Mike Fondop were Town’s tormentors, but their goals were given up far too easily, the soft underbelly so frequently referred to was a soft as it has been at home all season, only the Colchester United away game can credibly be compared to the nature of Spireites meagre defending against a team that’s always been a bogey side, but scarcely can they have seen off Chesterfield so comfortably. They were good mind, take nothing away from them.

Of all of the close on 70 sides Chesterfield have played more than 20 times in points offering games, encounters with Oldham, at 22.7%, have Spireites’ lowest win rate of them all. We always seem to be shocking against them!

The inconsistency of the season can clearly be seen in the last dozengames; no consecutive anything’s, no back to back wins, no back to back draws, no back to back defeats. High-Low indeed.

Accrington Stanley next, lost 5-0 at home to Notts on Tuesday, meaning just two points from the last 18 available. They’re pretty safe on 48 points, they can’t play the two Spireites loanees Butterfield and Madden, but they can point to a record of P6 W4 D1 L1 at the Crown Ground against Chesterfield, who clinched a play-off spot there last season in the last game of the campaign.

A win is a must, but there’ve been a few of them of late and the desired outcome hasn’t always been achieved.

Eight to go, miles more to be done, so can Paul Cook conjure up a bit of Eminem spirit as featured in the film 8 Mile, in which the song Lose Yourself (not a great title to make this point) starts off:

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

We just want the Real Slim Shady to stand up and Capture it. Ditch the fairytales and make this season real.

Phil’s Positive: Hard to find any but I remain positive.

Next Match: Saturday, March 21 at Accrington Stanley, 3pm kick-off.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.

Chesterfield (4–2-3-1 to start): Hemming; Curtis (Owolabi-Belewu 46), Dunkley (McFadzean 46), Swinkels, Duffy (Berry 46); Braybrooke, Naylor; Markanday, Mandeville, Dobra (Dickson 73); Grigg (Bonis 20). Subs (not used); Donacien, Stirk.