Lee sends Wilson to seventh heaven
NEW Chesterfield boss Danny Wilson admitted it may be a while before the Spireites score seven again, but he couldn’t have wished for a better first win in charge of the club where he made 100 League appearances as a player.
Lee Novak’s hat-trick and two goals apiece from Jay O’Shea and Rai Simons saw the Spireites pick up their first win in League One since Halloween at the expense of Micky Mellon’s hapless Shrewsbury.
Wilson said: “I don’t think we can get any higher than that now, can we? They’ve set the precedent!”
But despite the eventual rout, he stressed the importance of the resilience shown by his side after Shrewsbury pulled one back.
“We killed certain parts of their attacking movements and slowed the game down,” he added.
“Let’s hope there are a few more games where we score seven! I doubt it, but you never know.”
O’Shea set them on their way with a moment of magic in the 27th minute when he met Liam O’Neil’s cross with an unstoppable half-volley from the edge of the box.
And Wilson’s men looked to be all but out of sight by the interval, with O’Shea doubling his tally from 12 yards after Sam Morsy had been brought down by Ian Black in the box, before Novak side-footed into the top corner in stoppage time.
Zak Whitbread gave the visitors a glimmer of hope midway through the second half when he finished from point blank range after a goalmouth scramble.
But Spireites substitute Simons soon put paid to any prospect of a Shrews fightback, latching onto Chris Herd’s pass to drive the ball into the roof of the net just 46 seconds after replacing O’Shea.
Junior Brown was dismissed for a second booking ten minutes from time after barging Gboly Ariyibi to the ground in the box, and Mellon’s side collapsed thereafter.
Novak made it 5-1 from the spot, and drove into the box to complete his first Football League hat-trick a minute from time after Simons had slotted home his second. Dejected Shrews boss Mellon could only reflect on a nightmare day and admitted he is looking to add League One experience during the transfer window.
He said: “Pretty much everything that could go against us has gone against us.
“We’re all stunned, and we’re all very angry. And so we should be.
“We need to get League One players in, who can handle moments like that and do basic, League One things to a level you expect, because when you get some of that stuff, how can you legislate for that?”