CLUBS INCH TOWARDS SAFETY...
CHESTERFIELD and Fleetwood Town both edged a point closer to safety following their goalless draw at the Proact Stadium.
In a tightly-fought contest, both teams created little in the final third, with the best chance of the game falling to Jay O’Shea at the end of the first half, but the midfielder fired over after going clean through on goal.
Both Danny Wilson and Steven Pressley were content with a point, but felt that their own team could have claimed all three in their fight against relegation to League Two.
“It was an anxious game and a bit tentative at times,” admitted Chesterfield boss Wilson.
“It is something you would expect from two teams that know the value of three points at this stage of the season.
“Both teams wanted to win but they also didn’t want to lose. The disappointing aspect is that we didn’t work the Fleetwood goalkeeper with the chances that we had.
“A bit of anxiety and tension may have crept into our play.
“It is our first clean sheet for a while and we have not had enough of those.
“Fleetwood have some very good players but we kept our discipline and restricted them to a couple of efforts that whistled past the post.”
Fleetwood, who were looking to stop the rot of three straight league defeats, made five changes from their loss against Barnsley.
One of those fresh faces, Tyler Forbes, had an immediate impact at both ends of the field, preventing O’Shea with a goal-saving tackle, and playing an inch-perfect pass for Ash Hunter to tee up Amari’i Bell who fired wide.
A quiet first half sprang to life in the final ten minutes as David Ball missed a glorious opportunity from point-blank range as he failed to connect with Hunter’s inswinging cross from the right.
The game’s best chance fell in the dying embers of the first half as Spireites No.10 O’Shea took advantage of Marcus Nilsson’s slip to go through on goal but curled over Chris Maxwell’s crossbar.
Fleetwood started the second half on the front foot, as Everton loanee David Henen and Forbes both witnessed 20yard strikes just miss the target.
Chesterfield, perched just above Fleetwood in the standings, could have found an opening goal of their own just before the hour mark, dangerman O’Shea once more hammering over from just inside the penalty area.
In the final ten minutes, both teams missed opportunities through Hunter and Lee Novak, but neither side could find that cutting edge.
Fleetwood Town manager Pressley: “I’m frustrated because in our situation it’s very easy to become a percentage team and we showed great bravery here and kept playing.
“During the performance we created some unbelievable moments but our final shot and final decision let us down. When you look at our line-up it wasn’t a line-up to come here and sit in. It was line-up to win the game.
“At this stage of the season we have to win games and be really, really positive in our play, and we were that but it was just the final moment.”