Phil Tooley takes a look at the game and its context
Barrow 0 Chesterfield 1
League Two Game #41
(Singing the first sentence is obligatory). One-Nil to the Spireites, One-Nil to the Spireites, One-Nil to the Spireites, 1-0 seems to be the way. And what a time to achieve another, on a day when plenty of rivals won, but by 5 o’clock, none had made any ground on Paul Cook’s side.
Town are the only team in the top half of L2 to have won their last three games and they’re the only team in the top half of L2 to have three consecutive clean sheets. We should have won by more (again), we weren’t at the top of our game (again), we rode our luck at times (again). But at this stage of the season, WWW is all we want to see, well not quite, we want to see a first of the season WWWW and so on.
Did we ride our luck? When Danny Rose went sprawling in the box after Ryan Boot stretched out a right arm, experienced referee Darren Drysdale, whose first game in charge of a Chesterfield fixture was back in 2004 (1-0 win v Swindon, Wayne Allison scored), blew for what we all assumed was a penalty. From our 1866 Sport commentary position, which was close on perfect, no contact seemed to have been made, so we were horrified at the thought of another dodgy decision followed by an apology. However the man who’s been in the middle for nearly 650 professional games clearly listened to his own team, who indicated ‘no pen’ and the right ‘decision’ was made in the end. Phew.
That apart, there were a few nearly on target efforts for the Bluebirds, their only on target moment was a never threatening header from skipper Niall Canavan, the man who, in the second half, played a back-pass to keeper Wyll Stanway, the defender seemed to pull up as he delivered the ball, in rushed half-time sub Lee Bonis (on for Will Dickson, tight hamstring), he forced a keeper error and James Berry swept home, via the post, for his fifth of the season, four of them in away games. On commentary, me and Josh Marsh, at the break, both felt any goal, for either side, would most likely come from a mistake. Correct.
The Spireites, who started well enough, were forced to change when Ryan Stirk was withdrawn with an early groin injury, and for the remaining 30 minutes in the first half, they were slow to recover, there were a couple of chances, but nothing of the gilt-edged variety.
Bonis chased, hassled and harried after joining the action, as did Armando Dobra and Dilan Markanday when they entered the fray, and the trio helped lift Town’s game, not to great heights, but to a level where you never really felt threatened. All three could have scored, but Barrow, fighting for their league lives, were pretty solid at the back, having gained confidence by taking four points in their last two games, both against the division’s top two sides.
The final whistle was greeted by the players in a manner more of relief than celebration, an afternoon where Spireites defenders took the most plaudits, with Kyle McFadzean’s leadership qualities there for all to see and, to his left, Sil Swinkels, who did miss a gilt-edged chance, and Malik Owolabi-Belewu continued to build on their burgeoning partnership. Five starts together, four of them won, all to clean sheets. Top drawer.
Those same five games also saw Berry start, and he seems to have more freedom and be more dangerous when he’s got Malik behind him. The game lost amongst that quintet was the Shrewsbury one, where Chesterfield dominated, had a seasonal high 23 shots but somehow contrived to lose. In the 4-3-3 world we are presently in, that left-sided triumvirate seems to work well.
Tranmere Rovers next up, at home. They’ve banked just four points from the last 51 available, just one of those points coming in the last ten games, so no surprise that Andy Crosby has been replaced by Pete Wild, who’s beaten Chesterfield five times as a manager, for Halifax and Fleetwood, and he’s not beaten any side more times.
With the likes of Omari Patrick, Joe Ironside and ex-Spireite Kristian Dennis in the squad, they have attacking qualities and their last three games, all lost, have all been by 1-0 scorelines (sounds mirror image familiar), so they’re tough to score against. Grimsby 1 Harrogate 3 from the other day shows that the Spireites cannot afford any complacency.
Two of the three teams immediately below Chesterfield, Grimsby and Crewe, play each other on Saturday on a day when Spireites need to keep their winning run going.
I knew you’d want to know, but the last 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 was back in 2002, Stockport at home, Plymouth away and Blackpool at home with goals from Chris Brandon, Marcus Ebdon and David Reeves. I’ve not yet looked to find a four times 1-0 winning streak, but I do know not even John Duncan achieved that, but in the 1984/85 championship season, he oversaw five 1-0 wins in a six game streak, which did include a 1-0 win over Tranmere Rovers, Phill Walker the scorer at Prenton Park in front of a crowd of just 1,770.
It’s 1-0 heaven at the moment, far from purring, but not far from perfect!
Phil’s Positive: Three points and a clean sheet after an early injury spanner thrown in the works and a comfortable, if far from pretty, 90 minutes. A bit of a theme developing.
Next Match: Back to a Saturday, Tranmere Rovers visit the SMH Group Stadium on April 11, 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. Hear from Gary Roberts, Sil Swinkels and Malik Owolabi-Belewu in the Barrow podcast.
Chesterfield (4-3-3 to start): Boot; Curtis (Donacien 72), McFadzean, Swinkels, Owolabi-Belewu; Naylor, Braybrooke, Stirk (Dobra 16); Mandeville (Markanday 72), Dickson (Bonis 46), Berry (Duffy 82). Subs (not used); Hemming, Fleck.
Goal: Berry 62 (Chesterfield)
Referee: Darren Drysdale
Bookings: Curtis, McFadzean (Chesterfield), Rose, McCann (Barrow)
Attendance: 2,956 (511 from Chesterfield)
1866 Sport Man of the Match: Malik Owolabi-Belewu (chosen by Josh Marsh)
