Chesterfield 3 Scunthorpe United 1
Chesterfield set out to prove that last weekend's exceptional victory over Notts County was no accident and confirmed this with another fine result against Scunthorpe United at Warminster Road. Although the Spireites allowed the visitors to take the lead early in the first half, Dave Bentley's side showed character and soon established a way back into the game via Jimmy Adcock's equaliser and a brace from Jordan Burrow to keep the heat on the League's top two.
Craig Clay's recent return to Bentley's squad was unfortunately short lived, as John Sheridan recalled the midfielder for the first team's trip to Cheltenham. Sandy Moller and Jake Handbury had returned to training this week but were not named amongst the subs, gifting under-16's youngsters Ellis Wall and Jack Waddle an opportunity to join the apprentices.
Having ended last week's local affair in what seemed an stoppable goal spree, the Spireites looked on course to continue their sudden flurry of goals from the opening few minutes, when Ryan Granger's through ball to Jordan Burrow gave the striker the perfect opportunity to turn the Scunthorpe right back and looked to play his striking partner Tendayi Darikwa in for an early chance, but the defender recovered to see the ball out for a corner.
But that was to be Ryan Granger's last contribution to the match, as an injury forced the defender to leave the field of play after just 10 minutes, being replaced by Gerome Palmer. This early change meant that captain Chris Tingay switched sides into the absent Granger's left back position, meaning Matt Needham pushed out to right back, leaving Sam Clare and Palmer to hold the line in the middle.
The new re-arranged back four hardly had time to settle before the Iron mounted a string of attacks. Tingay and Clare continued their impressive season long performances, using their experience to keep Scunthorpe at bay.
Despite their best efforts, the Iron somehow found a way through the Chesterfield back four to take the lead on 17 minutes. A string of well worked passes through the Spireite team ended with the Scunny number 11 side footing the ball past goalkeeper Scott Webb from inside the Blues penalty box.
Chesterfield had failed to produce anything of real threat towards the visitors, with Darikwa's 22nd minute effort being the closest slighting on goal for the Blues. Jimmy Adcock and Tingay's attacking move down the left wing ended up with the Chesterfield number nine placing over after Ben Watkis' neat lay off.
The visitor's didn't seem to be phased by the off target Spireite effort and could have easily made the score higher three minutes later. A quick break from an opposing Chesterfield corner set up United's goalscorer for his second of the match, but the winger blazed wide from close range, much to relief of all in a blue shirt.
Bentley's side managed to level the match through Adcock's perseverance on 35 minutes. When it seemed Darikwa was gifted a certain goalscoring opportunity, the Iron goalkeeper proved to be more than equal to the challenge but Adcock, who had followed the ball from originally playing it through to Darikwa, picked up the ball and slotted it past two Iron defenders who were trying to guard the open goal.
Before the half was out, Bentley was forced into making his second substitute of the match. Jordan Edridge was Chesterfield's second injury victim of the day, being replaced by Shamus Beaglehole in the holding position.
Ben Watkis was in impressive form last week, bagging two in the process, and was again causing problems, this time it was Scunthorpe who was on the receiving end. Watkis' threaded ball split the Iron defence into two leaving Darikwa in a one on one situation. Despite doing all the hard work and rounding the keeper, the forward couldn't quite get past the one remaining Iron defender who had tracked back in an attempt to save the day and almost did just that. Darikwa's finish was defended by the head of the Scunny centre half, although the defender didn't quite know too much about it, with the rebound leaving Jordan Burrow with the simplest of tap ins he is likely ever to be gifted with.
Chesterfield were now on top of their game and were proving to be a force to reckon with. A sloppy passback to the Iron goal-keeper was miscued and resulted in a complete miss of the ball, which eventually ended with Watkis's side footed effort being dragged wide of the target after Darikwa's tracking down.
Even Needham was venturing more frequently up field and forced the Iron goalkeeper to tip the ball over the bar for a corner. Off the resulting set piece, Chesterfield extended their lead further through Chesterfield's leading goalscorer Jordan Burrow. As Smith's ball was floated in, a catalogue of errors lead to Burrow's close range shot being smashed into the back of the net to take the striker's tally to four in his last two matches.
Chesterfield saw the match out on top as the Spireites now look forward to their clash against Grimsby Town next weekend.
Chesterfield (4-4-2): Webb, Granger (Palmer 10), Tingay, Clare, Needham, Adcock, Smith, Edridge (Beaglehole 39), Watkis, Darikwa, Burrow
Subs Not Used: Wall, Waddle, Wright, West
Goals: Adcock 35, Burrow 52, 69
