Spireities love a good Weston
CURTIS Weston’s stoppage-time strike earned Chesterfield a much-needed three points against fellow relegation-haunted big guns Wrexham.
The Dragons twice took the lead but the Spireites hit back immediately, before Weston popped up four minutes into time added on with a shot which cannoned against the underside of the crossbar and over the line.
It took Chesterfield to within a point of safety, leaving caretaker boss John Pemberton dreaming of a great escape.
“Hopefully this can be a pivotal game in the season, I think this result will go a long way in our fight,” said Pemberton, who took over from axed John Sheridan with the club five points adrift.
“However, we still have a lot of good teams to play and we can’t get carried away, but nice to come away with a last-minute winner against a side we needed to beat.”
Pemberton’s men, however, didn’t get off to the most confident of starts and it was such defensive sloppiness which led to Wrexham’s opener on 21 minutes with Will Evans’ backwards header looping over Shwan Jalal and into his own goal.
The Spirerites, however, responded just four minutes later. Weston flicked a cross from Josef Yarney to find Tom Denton in space who finished from close range.
But it was more careless defending which saw Chesterfield fall behind once again on 68 minutes. Keeper Rob Lainton’s long punt forward was flicked on by JJ Hooper and found Jordan Ponticelli in acres of space and he slotted coolly past Jalal.
But, within four minutes, Chesterfield were level again – Lainton made a mess of a clearance from a corner and punched it straight to Liam Mandeville, who slotted home.
Both sides piled forward in an entertaining finale and almost resulted in Wrexham ending with ten men after Hooper reacted to being brought down by Evans, pushing the Chesterfield captain in the face, only to escape with a yellow card from referee Karl Evans when a red might have been more deserved.
But just when it looked as though the spoils would be shared, midfield ace Weston struck the killer blow.
The result brings an end to Wrexham’s recent revival and drags them back into the relegation dogfight, just two points above the final relegation place, occupied by Chesterfield.
Boss Dean Keates felt that his side deserved more from the game and was disappointed that thew Dragons couldn’t hold on for at least a point.
Keates said: “For long periods of the game we were stronger and more organised, the work rate and everything was there today.
“I felt that we were well worth at least a point and obviously we are disappointed that we couldn’t hold on for all three.”