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I’m going to keep it brief because most of you who weren't at Saltergate will have watched it on Sky. Goals from Jamie Lowry, Brendan Maloney and a brace from Jack Lester inflicted a crushing defeat on a Bulls team that had been unbeaten away from Edgar Street for ten games.
As early as the second minute, Chesterfield took the lead when a surging run from midfield by Lester allowed him to put Lowry in for the first. Just before the quarter hour mark Robinson was cruelly robbed of a shooting chance when the assistant referee flagged for offside against Benjamin as he walked towards the centre circle, clearly making no attempt to go for the ball. Conditions were far from perfect with driving rain and a swirling wind making it difficult to judge the flight of the ball and the heavy pitch may have contributed to the short back-pass that enabled Lester to double the score on twenty-one minutes. Hereford tried to get their passing game going but it was the direct, with the ball, running of The Spirettes that was the more effective particularly in the final third. In the fortieth minute, the game was all but over when Lester got his second. The ball was played in from wide on the right and the Chesterfield striker got the better of a defence desperately trying to hold it’s line on the edge of the box to finish with aplomb.
The beginning of the second period saw Trevor Benjamin withdrawn in favour of Sam Gwynne who took up a right of midfield position while Simon Johnson moved to a central striking role. The half saw better possession for The Bulls but again they lacked thrust in the final approach. There were few effective attempts on goal from United whereas their rampant opposition were giving Wayne Brown plenty of exercise, one shot from Jamie Ward rattling the crossbar. The ninetieth minute saw Maloney score the goal of the game with a scorching effort from outside the area before referee Hegley bring the punishing evening to a close. The game was watched by 3274 spectators with around 170 hardy souls from The Shire.
I suppose in a season when we have, in the main, been treated to some decent football and are sitting high in the League, the odd poor performance can be excused. Tonight, too many individual battles were lost in all areas of the field and were it not for a couple of splendid stops by Wayne Brown, the defeat could have been worse. I got the impression that several on the pitch would have preferred to have been sitting in the warm watching the game on TV rather than trying to impress the cameras.
Chesterfield: Roche, Moloney, O'Hare, Kovacs, Downes, Lowry, Niven, Leven, Robertson, Ward (Fletcher 78), Lester.Subs Not Used: Rooney, Barnes, Picken, Winter. Booked: Moloney.
Hereford: Brown, McClenahan, Rose (Easton 76), Collins (McCombe 76), Beckwith, Smith, Taylor, Diagouraga, Benjamin (Gwynne 46), Robinson, Johnson.Subs Not Used: Ingham, Broadhurst.
See you in the queue in the morning. Ex.