After the Bees it's the Bulls. Hereford United are the second league visitors to the B2net this weekend.
On paper Hereford have made a similar start to the season to ourselves; in the league we've each won one and drawn one to earn four points and a goal difference of plus one. Furthermore we both suffered home defeats in the first round of the Carling Cup. Closer inspection reveals that we've got to where we are via somewhat different routes; the Spireites beat Barnet 2-1 at home on the opening day of the season whilst the Bulls were winning 1-0 at Crewe and last week our hard-earned 1-1 draw at Port Vale was matched by Hereford's goalless draw against Gillingham at Edgar Street. In the process we have scored three goals to Hereford's one. In the Carling Cup we narrowly went down 2-1 in a thrilling encounter with Middlesbrough whereas Hereford lost 3-0 to Colchester United.
Simon Davey the new Bulls boss has made several signings over the summer including midfielder O'Neil Thompson on loan from his old club Barnsley, defender Michael Townsend from Cheltenham and midfielder Joe Colbeck from Oldham. Thompson has been struggling with injury since pulling his groin prior to the Crewe game during which he also sustained a nasty cut to his foot. He has been rested from first team training this week and is very unlikely to be risked on Saturday. One player who almost certainly will feature is centre half and former Spireite János Kovács. Since leaving Saltergate for Lincoln City in June 2008 János made 66 appearances for the Imps before playing 17 games with Luton in the Conference last season. He signed for Hereford in June this year and has been appointed captain. His bullet header from a corner at Crewe is the Bulls only goal so far this season. Many Spireite fans were sorry to see him leave Saltergate and I'm sure wish him well - as long as he doesn't score on Saturday!
Hereford achieved a win double over Chesterfield last season. Of the team that started the home game in March only four players are likely to start on Saturday for the Spireites - Tommy Lee, Ian Breckin, Mark Allott and Drew Talbot. Ian Morris who limped off in the opening game against Barnet is likely to be available but Rob Page (achilles injury) and Craig Davies (suspension) are certainly not. New signing Dean Morgan, signed too late to be included at Vale Park, will increase the attacking options open to John Sheridan. He looks to be a good acquisition having played most of his 250 plus games at Championship and League One level. He scored 4 goals in 9 games on loan at Aldershot Town at the end of last season. The Shots were keen to sign him when he was released by MK Dons in the summer but the opportunity to come to the B2net proved a greater attraction for 26 year old Dean.
'Goal machine' Dwayne Mattis will be looking to score his fourth goal in four games. Last season he scored just twice in 35 appearances for Walsall. The midfielder who started his career at
Huddersfield in 1998 has made over 265 Football League appearances and his previous season's best is five - for Bury. Dwayne looks odds on favourite to smash that record this season for the Spireites. Simon Davey will be well aware of Dwayne's abilities as he made five appearances for Barnsley during Davey's tenure as manager at Oakwell.
The Hereford game is the first game at the b2net that isn't 'special' in that it is neither the very first competitive match at the new stadium nor a cup tie against attractive opposition from the Championship. So far crowd figures have been very encouraging at around 6,500 and hopefully that figure can even be improved upon as the season progresses. A win on Saturday to continue our promising start to the season will be a big step towards achieving that.
by David Dove
Listen live on Spireites Player
Back the boys on Coral Bet
