APRIL A MONTH WHERE SAFETY WAS ACHIEVED
By John Taylor
April commenced with the eagerly awaited visit to Town of Nottingham Forest including former Spireites Sammy Clingan and Ian Breckin. We had Roche back in goal, whilst Larkin and Allison returned up front. Former Forest man Roche was keen to do well against his former team, but rather cemented the fans' opinion of him when he misjudged Clingan's left wing cross after 19 minutes and Breckin headed in despite the desperate attempts of Alan O'Hare on the line. Ten minutes later it was 2-0 as the struggling Alex Bailey dealt badly with a through ball and presented Nathan Tyson with a gift to slip the ball pat Roche. Phil Picken pulled one back within 5 minutes with a cracking 25-yarder for his first ever league goal. From then on we competed well and always looked a threat, but right at the death we conceded again from a corner and the scoreline had another lopsided edge to it. This was a fifth straight defeat and in this form we were plummeting straight towards relegation. It was difficult to see where the next point was coming from, since even when we played relatively well, we were still being defeated.
Picks notched his first League goal out Sammy had the last laugh with a 3-1 win
Well done Picks
Next up was the short trip to Oakwell against a Barnsley side well into the play-off zone, but struggling to win of late. Kovacs came in for O'Hare, rather surprisingly, given the poor form of Bailey and we opted for only 1 up front (Folan) in a bid to defend more effectively. Our lack of luck was amply shown after about 10 minutes when Larkin latched onto a long throw from Allott and turned the ball goalwards where the home keeper, Colgan, scrambled the ball away, though it was clearly over the line. Naturally, the officials weren't interested. We seemed to shrink somewhat after this and the home side went ahead just after the half hour when Howard tapped in after Kovacs and Downes were beaten on the left by Hayes. Barnsley held the upper hand for some time after this without finding the killer touch as both teams looked short of confidence. After 67 minutes, things changed for us as Hurst replaced Larkin and O'Hare replaced Bailey with Picken reverting to the right. Almost instantly the defence looked more assured and we had more shape, whilst the home side were struggling to make any headway. Shortly afterwards, good work by Folan set up Hall in the box. He appeared to have delayed too long, but he crossed low and Niven swept the ball in to massive relief in the away stand. The demeanour of the players now visibly altered as confidence surged through them. We now looked capable of winning, but it was not to be as the last 20 minutes brought no further score, though both sides could have pinched it. Niven's goal was absolutely crucial as it restored some belief in the team and stopped the dreadful losing sequence.
Derek levels at Oakwell
One week later Colchester were in town and team reshuffling saw Phil Picken in midfield, Alan O'Hare returning at left back and Paul Hall moved up front to replace the injured Folan. We got off to an amazing start with O'Hara sweeping us ahead after 3 minutes and Hall converting a penalty on 17 after Duguid had hauled down Bailey. The kick was given only after the linesman overruled the ref, who was as near to the foul as his assistant. Hall's spot kick was a tad comical, as he appeared to kick the ground and the ball bobbled in with Davidson going the wrong way. U's star man, Danns was very fortunate not to see red just before the break when he scythed down O'Hare. To the Irishman's credit, he got up and hobbled away, rather than go for the theatrical approach much loved by most opponents these days. Three minutes into injury time we went to sleep and Yates pulled back a well-taken but soft goal. This was to prove costly, as the promotion-chasing visitors were rather better after the break and equalised on 72 minutes from Iwelumo after a left wing cross by Duguid who was well offside, but the pressurised linesman failed to spot this. A few minutes later, a second visitor should have seen red as Clarke took out O'Hare with a vicious challenge well after the Irishman had sent the ball down the line. Despite the incident's taking place right under the linesman's nose, Clarke was merely cautioned, presumably because O'Hare, again, had the honesty to get up.
Another cracker from the special one
Jamie delighted with his first Saltergate goal
O'Hara almost won it after a great solo run resulted in his hitting the post with the Chief ballooning the rebound over the bar. The game left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth despite our decent play because Colchester were very cynical and weak officialdom allowed them to prosper. Our lack of focus didn't help our cause either, but unless referees start to recognise the difference between vicious challenges and clumsy ones, they are going to encourage playacting, since an up-front honest approach clearly gets you nowhere.
Easter Tuesday saw the short trip to Huddersfield for a rematch against our friends Hudson and Brandon. Tony Carrss was missing injured from the Terriers' line-up, but Hudson was clearly out to prove a point and played very well. Brandon had one of his more frustrating games and was roundly mocked when he was substituted. The home side needed to win to go into the automatic promotion places and started very confidently, though not as confidently as the home fans, who expected an absolute goal fest. Graham put the Yorkshire side ahead early on with a well worked header, but despite their dominance, we kept it to one at the break. The second half saw quite a change as we got stronger and they got edgy. Hall equalised on 54 minutes with a marvellous goal of sweet passing and a calm finish. 13 minutes later his finish was even better as he latched onto Allott's measured through ball to win it and ensure League 1 football at Saltergate next season. Huddersfield pressed considerably in an effort to equalise but were denied by some stout defending, notably O'Hare's well-timed tackle to rob Taylor-Fletcher, which brought many a shout for a penalty.
Hally scuppers Huddersfield automatic promotion hopes 2-1 Spireites
Our quest for a home victory resumed on Saturday with the visit of Danny Wilson's MK Dons. Omens were not good with the visitors wearing all-black, since we've been successful just once against opponents wearing that in the years since the league have allowed it as a kit. The 2 Colins started as our strike pairing, which must be a club first. Poor defending allowed the Dons to go ahead early on with a Platt header and on 30 minutes, Colin Heath vanished injured on his full debut. I suspect we won't see him again. The other Colin (Larkin) equalised with a good poacher's goal just after the break and we proceeded to boss the match after this. Baker made some good saves and our finishing was lacking so we didn't add to our tally. Substitute Edds then made us pay with his first touch with 3 minutes to go as he slammed in from the edge of the area to leave us defeated again at home. On a positive note, Hazell returned for Kovacs on 63 minutes and slotted in like he'd never been away. He was also doing a lot of valuable organising to some effect until Edds ruined it with a goal that could keep MK up.
Oops 2-1 MK Dons
The last action of the month had us at Vale and wearing the new, snazzy maroon and white away kit. The game got off to a daft start with 2 goals in 5 minutes, both courtesy of goalkeeping errors. Goodlad dropped Picken's cross for O'Hara to score the easiest goal he'll ever get then Roche somehow flapped at a corner and Pilkington headed in. Nine minutes later, he did it again after more goalkeeping hesitancy and static defending. Not bad for a man who'd not scored since 2003. Again, despite long periods of pressure and a blatant penalty turned away by the referee after a foul on Smith, we managed not to equalise and went further behind late on to lose 3-1. The only other notables from the game were the debut of Jamie Jackson and the surprising return of Shane Nicholson, both from the bench. Overall, though, this was another poor result against an average side. We have just got to learn to be meaner in defence-only Scunny have let in more goals than us and this is something we must improve on next season.
New away kit debut at Vale Park
Barry Roche is a worry-he's made some decent saves since his return from injury, but his confidence levels look very low and he's making too many mistakes that we can't afford. In similar vein, Alex Bailey, with his injury-ravaged season has been poor and lacking any spark except in very brief patches. Still, it's not too bad; we've stayed up to confound the bookies and the experts, though we've won only 1 game since mid-November at home. That's not very clever, so let's hope we can beat Swansea in our last game. The last time I can remember playing them last at home, we won 3-1 in 1968 when they were Swansea Town-a repeat of that result would go down nicely.
Off the field, we've had rumblings of positive activity on the ground move and the player-of-the-year bash over the border saw Mark Allott deservedly sweep the board with the awards except for goal-of-season which went to Kevan Hurst for his stunning effort at Ashton Gate.
Mark Allott swept the awards
Man of the month
The final man-of-the month award for the season is not too tricky this time. Alan O'Hare almost got there for his magnificent tackle at the Galpharm coupled with his remarkable honesty against Colchester, but for some exciting football and marvellous all round contribution, especially for a youngster, it has to go to Jamie O'Hara. It would be nice to think we could keep him for next season!
