Venue: Technique Stadium
Saturday, 11th March, 3pm kick-off
Pitch: Considering how it looked at 7am, impressive
Conditions: Dry and cool with a sprinkling of snow in the second half
Attendance: 6893 (153 away supporters)
Scorers: Paul McCallum pen 34 (0-1), Law 42 (1-1)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Josh Staunton 73
Chesterfield: Darren Oldaker 55
Referee: Dean Watson
Yeovil Town (4-3-3)
Substitutes: Andrew Oluwabori (for Young, 79), Chiori Johnson (for Stevens, 82), Alex Fisher (for Maguire-Drew, 86), Reo Griffiths (not used).
Chesterfield: Fitzimmons, Sheckleford (for King, 71), Williams, Grimes, Maguire, Oldaker (for Banks, 71), Akinola, Dallas (for Quigley, 84), Mandeville, Colclough, McCallum Substitutes (not used): Horton, Uchegbulam
Match Report
Yeovil Town grabbed an important point at Chesterfield this afternoon with Ryan Law’s equaliser cancelling out Paul McCallum’s penalty.
The result sees Yeovil steer four points clear of the drop zone. Here’s how Dave saw the match…
First half
After a quiet start to the first open 15 minutes, a couple of speculative efforts from the home side were as near as either side got to threatening an effort on goal.
It took until 16 minutes for a notable save from either keeper and unsurprisingly it was the best keeper in the league who was in action. A corner from the Chesterfield right by Liam Mandeville was met by a point blank header from Lawrence Maguire whose effort was parried over by Grant Smith.
The home side appeared happy to boss possession whilst the away side’s tactic appeared to be to play long balls to the diminutive Jordan Young. Without a great deal of success, it has to be said.
At the other end, the 33rd minute saw Smith back in action against his former club parrying an effort from Andy Dallas wide. From the resulting corner, the linesman spotted a handball from Jamie Reckord which the referee did not see, the Chesterfield players did not see (or if they did, they didn’t appeal for it), but the home fans behind the goal saw and appealed for. Referee Dean Watson didn’t give it, his assistant did and from the following spot kick, Paul MCCALLUM put his effort straight down the middle. The decision was harsh on Reckord whose hands were high but not unnaturally so.
The long ball tactic – to a front three of Jordan Young, Jordan Maguire-Drew and Ryan Law – persisted as the first half progressed, but did not seem to offer any cutting edge.
But, for all their possession, the home side carved out a couple of meaningful opportunities. Then, on 42 minutes, a superb piece of skill and chipped ball in from the right by Jordan Young was met by a glancing header from Ryan LAW to nod the equaliser. If I am honest, I was waiting for the linesman’s flag to go up, but we need all the luck we can give.
UPDATE: On rewatching the move on the Chesterfield highlights package (see below), it is clear that Law’s run was timed to perfection with at least two, possibly three Spireites’ defenders playing him onside.
It would be hard to say Yeovil deserved to go in to the break level, but the home side only tested Smith on a couple of occasions, it was by no means a one-sided first 45 minutes.
Half time: Chesterfield 1 Yeovil Town 1
Second half
Not much to write home about from the first 15 minutes of the second half, with Maguire-Drew’s cross which just missed Reckord after 55 minutes being the only real meaningful effort from either side.
As is typical with a second half, there was definitely more of the ball seen by the visiting side, albeit with a lack of cutting edge.
It took until the final 20 minutes for a meaningful effort to come to either side. First Smith got down well to deny a free-kick from Jeff King, just on as a substitute, and from the resulting corner Maguire headed in to the arms of Smith.
With just over ten minutes remaining, Andrew Oluwabori was introduced in place of Young, who had started to run out of steam. Not long after Chiori Johnson was on in place of Jordan Stevens, who appeared to be suffering an injury as he went off.
With three minutes to go, McCallum wasted a glorious opportunity to get the winner. A ball in from Mandeville saw the striker rising highest, but his header went straight in to Smith’s hands.
That was the final meaningful chance as the visitors held on for a valuable point in the battle for survival.
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