ASANTE’S A STAR FOR BOSS ROWE
AKWASI ASANTE’S double extended Chesterfield’s unbeaten home run to five games as they squeezed past battling Wrexham in a dramatic finale.
Asante coolly slotted beat Dragons keeper Rob Lainton one-on-one two minutes from time to wrap up the points after his ninth-minute opener had earlier been cancelled out by a Luke Young penalty.
And it capped an all-round display which left manager James Rowe purring.
“Asante was the best player on the pitch, hold up play, link play, running at people, movement off the shoulder absolutely immense,” said Rowe, who brought striker Asante with him to the Technqiue Stadium after leaving Gloucester City.
“Obviously, it was Akwasi that did it for us with the two goals, but what I’m really pleased with is Joe Rowley and [Liam] Mandeville coming on having an impact, the pass from Liam for the goal is outstanding.”
Asante took just nine minutes to break the deadlock. Reece Hall-Johnson failed to deal with a long ball forward from Jak McCourt, allowing Asante to volley his effort over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Chesterfield were dominant for long stretches of the game but struggled to create much in the way of clear cut chances, while the Dragons were mainly restricted to counter attacking opportunities.
But Wrexham did manage to find an equaliser on 19 minutes, albeit in the first half in controversial fashion. A shot from the edge of the box by Jordan Davies was blocked by McCourt but referee Martin Woods pointed to the spot for an alleged handball. Luke Young converted from the spot to level the game.
Wrexham’s penalty was their first shot of the game, but they seemed to grow into the proceedings after that with both Young and Davies beginning to pull the strings in the midfield.
Jordan Davies caught the Chesterfield defence off guard with a great ball over the top to Jordan Ponticelli. He tried to pull this across to his strike partner Adi Yussuf but was prevented by an excellent cover tackle from Laurence Maguire.
But just when it looked like the home sid were going to be denied, Asante found a winner two minutes from time.
Mandeville played an excellent ball to split open the
Wrexham defence, putting Asante through one-on-one before slotting it coolly into the bottom right past Lainton.
The result sees Chesterfield climb to one place behind Wrexham, with what once looked like another Spireites relegation battle starting to look like a promotion push.
After the match, bossRowe dedicated the match to Bradley Tyas, a 23-yearold Spireites fan who sadly passed away this week following a road accident.
STAR MAN: Akwasi Asante (Chesterfield)