Spireites sail in clear waters

FIRST-HALF goals from Manny Oyeleke and Kabongo Tshimanga ensured Chesterfield maintained their unbeaten start to the National League with a relatively comfortable victory over Yeovil Town at Huish Park.

It was the Glovers’ second home defeat of the season, and the first time this year they failed to score in a match, while James Rowe’s Spireites sit proudly atop the National League table after seven games.

Yeovil, on the back of three straight victories, started brightly and thought they had taken the lead on 18 minutes when Spireites goalkeeper Scott Loach scrambled over a corner and dropped the ball into his own net.

The Glovers ran to celebrate but referee Daniel Lamport instead gave a free-kick on Loach – this after an agonising wait for the Huish Park crowd.

Almost immediately, Oyeleke did break the deadlock after a scramble in the box and the ball was bundled into the back of the net following a series of clearances from Yeovil.

It gave Chesterfield a boost and 15 minutes later Tshimanga netted his seventh goal of the season after Yeovil’s defence switched off and failed to deal with a long ball forward – giving the high-flyers a cushion at half time.

Both sides made a change at half time – Adi Yussuf coming on for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton for Yeovil, while Chesterfield replaced Gavin Gunning with Jeff King.

But it was the home side who seemed to benefit the most, forcing six successive corners. Loach eventually gathered to halt the momentum.

Yeovil’s Josh Staunton almost hammered the ball home from the 30 yards, but it again was saved by Loach before Tom Knowles found some space in the box but his shot sailed wide.

Sarll said: “The [goal] decision seemed harsh, and goalkeepers get looked after a lot these days. It would have been a nice way to start the game.

“The second goal was a horror show. They are lapses of concentration and we have paid for that. There is no need to blow people’s heads off – we did it as a team as we won as a team last week.

“Too many of our players looked uninterested, deenergised and that is something for me to go look at.

“I need to get to know these players in situations like this.

“I thought we just had a change in mentality second half. I had to question some of those young men at half time. It was a greater hunger for chances, and we defended better second half. The difference between teams who win leagues and don’t win leagues, is they score when they are on top.”

Spirites boss Rowe said: “I’m pleased with the performance levels in terms of the clean sheet – five in seven. I want to build from that.

“All I am interested in is where we are after 44 games. We’re seven in, yes it’s great, but let’s see where we are at the end of the season.”