Review: Chesterfield VS Altrincham
24.02.2021
After the visitors edged the first half, Akwasi Asante put the Spireires ahead four minutes after the break following great work by Laurence Maguire.
Altrincham missed the opportunity to equalise when Town goalkeeper Grant Smith saved Joe Piggott’s penalty with 15 minutes to go.
The win moves the Blues to within six points of the top seven with four games in hand.
Here are five talking points from the game...
Was it a penalty?
Yusifu Ceesay caused Chesterfield quite a few problems in the first half with his pace and trickery and he won a penalty when referee David Richardson decided that he had been brought down in the box by goalkeeper Smith. But the Spireites stopper dived to his right to keep out substitute Piggott’s spot-kick which some may say was justice. At best it looked like Smith might have brushed Ceesay’s ankles but there looked minimal contact. After the game James Rowe said that Altrincham manager Phil Parkinson agreed it was not a penalty. Thankfully it did not cost Town all three points.
Digging deep
The saying goes in football that if you can win when you don’t play well it is a sign of a good team and that is what Chesterfield did against the Robins. The Spireites were a little off the pace in the first half and Altrincham’s Ceesay and Matthew Kosylo looked very dangerous. The visitors broke through the Spireites’ press and forced Smith into two good saves and only a brilliant last-ditch challenge from Will Evans stopped another golden opportunity. But after the break Town got to grips with Altrincham’s gameplan and stamped their authority on the match. Evans got tighter to Ceesay, who apart from winning the penalty, rarely threatened in the second half.
Tactical switch pays off
At half-time Rowe swapped full-backs Whittle and Carline over and within minutes it paid off. Laurence Maguire surged out of defence and exchanged passes with Whittle down the right flank. Maguire then got free to deliver a cross which Asante stabbed home at the far post. A left-sided centre-half crossing from the right wing is absolutely bonkers but it just shows the flexibility that Rowe has given them.
No ‘isolation blues’ for Town
To come out of a third isolation period in two months and record back-to-back wins and clean sheets against promotion challengers Notts County and Altrincham is very impressive and everyone deserves a lot of credit. If they can get at least a point against Stockport County on Saturday then it will have been a superb first week back for Rowe’s men.
Statto
We all love a stat so how about this one. Rowe has been in charge of 11 league matches since taking over and they have only been behind for five-and-a-half minutes (five against Weymouth in Rowe’s first match and 30 seconds at the end of the Solihull Moors defeat). Incredible! Source: https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk
