DAN’S STUNNER LIFTS SPIREITES
RITCHIE Humphreys is not in the running to be the next Chesterfield manager but the caretaker boss couldn’t hide his delight as Dan Gardner earned three points against fellow relegation rivals Coventry.
It took until the 77th minute for the deadlock to be broken but it was well worth the wait, Gardner hammered the ball home from 25 yards out after good work from Jay O’Shea created the opening.
That gave Humphreys, in charge of the Spireites following Danny Wilson’s departure last week, a welcome three points, and he was grateful to the attitude of the players in a tricky situation.
“As a coach or manager you can’t really teach Dan Gardner to put that in the top corner like he did, that was the difference between the sides in the game,” said Humphreys.
“There has been a real coming together, I’ve been in this situation before where managers have left and it can mean uncertain times for the players.
“All we could do was get the three points,
“The next person in charge will no doubt have seen some of our games and already know the players,
“They will obviously have their own thoughts and processes but if me and Matt [Duke] can help out, we just want the best for the players.”
Humphreys’, who is also Chairman of the PFA, ruled himself out of the running for the vacant manager’s position earlier in the week.
And the indication is that exWigan Athletic boss Gary Caldwell will be appointed before the visit of AFC Wimbledon next Saturday.
Meanwhile the Sky Blues fans travelled up to Derbyshire in strong numbers and were voicing their opinion with chants of ‘Sisu out’ throughout.
But they struggled to create
many chances in a game that was broken up by a long delay following a head injury for Chesterfield centre-back Tom Anderson.
George Thomas could have grabbed Coventry a late equaliser but fired over.
Just before the hour the visitors had seen a Marcus Tudgay effort ruled out for offside, much tothe frustration of manager Russell Slade.
He said: “The one where Tudgay was flagged offside, he wasn’t offside.
“I looked at the footage and it was a genuine goal and that is two weeks running now we’ve had that situation.
“When you’re battling down there these things are massively important. There were a lot of 50/50 decisions and we didn’t get many of them, that’s not me having a go at the man in the middle but not much went our way.
“The defeat has made me double determined to do something, the positive thing is there is plenty of points still to play for, we have a wonderful opportunity to do something about it.”