Chesterfield captain Will Evans gives his assessment of what went wrong against Chorley and his mistake for the penalty

Chesterfield captain Will Evans says his mistake that led to Chorley being awarded a penalty which effectively ended any hopes of the Spireites rescuing a draw on Saturday was "disappointing" and "frustrating".
Chesterfield captain Will Evans challenges for the ball in the air against Chorley.Chesterfield captain Will Evans challenges for the ball in the air against Chorley.
Chesterfield captain Will Evans challenges for the ball in the air against Chorley.

The Blues were 2-0 down against the National League's bottom side at the Proact inside 20 minutes.

After regrouping at half-time and a triple substitution by manager John Sheridan just before the hour-mark they got themselves back in the game with a long-range strike from Curtis Weston.

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Chesterfield almost grabbed an equaliser through Haydn Hollis but just two minutes later Chorley were awarded a penalty when striker Charles Vernam pounced on a mistake by Evans, which then led to Town's captain fouling Vernam inside the box and tucking away his second of the game from the spot-kick to restore their two-goal advantage.

On his mistake for the penalty Evans said: “I felt I had a bit of time and I heard a shout of ‘head it back’ so I have tried to head it back and I have misjudged it and didn’t head it and I just got caught on the ball.

"It was probably a lack of concentration and it just summed the afternoon up for myself in a way.

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"I was not at the races so that situation just summed it up for me.

"It is frustrating because you feel like you have let your teammates down, your manager down and the fans down.

"As the captain of the football club you want to be the leader but I am only human, I will make mistakes and obviously I have got to try and make up for it in the next game.

“It is disappointing and frustrating particularly on a personal level because I have cost us the game by giving a penalty away just as we had got back into the game and the momentum was with us but giving the penalty away has throw it all back their way."

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After the game boss Sheridan said complacency was an issue and Evans agrees.

"“Yeah, I think so. Obviously as a player you do look at the opposition. Against Notts County for example we knew they were in good form, it was a derby, so it does give you that bit more incentive.

“Maybe it is a mental thing.

“We weren’t good enough, we know that. We are all frustrated and we need to go back to working as we were.”

Despite Chesterfield heading into the match with four wins from six in the league there appeared to be a nervousness and a lack of confidence right from the start.

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In an honest assessment from the centre-half, Evans admitted that they did not work hard enough.

He told the DT: “I feel like we showed them too much respect in a way.

"What we have been doing well is working hard, pressuring teams and being solid as a unit which we obviously just did not do.

“I don’t want to make excuses but maybe having the (last) weekend off has killed our momentum in a way.

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“I thought we were very slow, very lethargic all over and we did not get going until the 60th minute.

“To lose two early goals I think it sort of hit us and it did knock the confidence until we regrouped at half-time and then we got back out on the front foot and we got the first goal back.

“It did feel like we went back six or seven weeks.

“We did not run hard enough and we were not clever enough on the ball.

“We did not work hard enough mentally or physically."

He added: “But I can honestly say we do have an honest group of lads who want to work hard and be successful but for whatever reason it is not quite happening at the moment but it is down to us.

“Everybody has a day at the office where it does not quite work for you and Saturday was one of those days for us in a lot of aspects."