REPORT: Chesterfield FC 2-5 Burton Albion - Spireites end pre-season with home defeat

Chesterfield finished pre-season with a third straight home defeat to Football League opposition.
Joe RowleyJoe Rowley
Joe Rowley

Chesterfield finished pre-season with a third straight home defeat to Football League opposition.The Spireites started the 5-2 defeat to Burton Albion very well, fell apart for a long spell and then pulled themselves together to make it a contest again.Three Brewers goals in a five minute first half spell took the game away from John Sheridan's men, who start their National League season a week today at home to Dover.Before then, Sheridan will hope to have added pace and more attacking threat, but the manner of some of the goals they conceded today may worry him a little.Burton were afforded too much time and space in the first half and they took full advantage.The second half was much, much better however and Burton's late fifth goal put a slightly cruel spin on the scoreline.The afternoon had begun so well.It took Chesterfield just 72 seconds to take the lead against their League One visitors, Scott Boden sliding the ball through for his strike partner Anthony Spyrou who strode into the box and pushed a calm finish beyond Kieran O'Hara.Burton would have levelled in the fifth minute, but for Haydn Hollis' perfectly timed slide challenge that took a goalscoring opportunity away from Liam Boyce, 12 yards out.Shwan Jalal was into the action early too, diving to his left to palm away Scott Fraser's stinging close-range drive.When Fraser was played in on goal a minute later he made no mistake, rounding Jalal and rolling the ball into the empty net.It was an action packed first 15 minutes, in which the woodwork twice came to Burton's rescue.Spyrou thumped a 25 yard effort onto the post with O'Hara well beaten, the keeper recovering to tip Scott Boden's curling effort away for a corner.Town took the set-piece short, allowing Liam Mandeville to find time and space on the edge of the box before sending a shot onto the crossbar.David Buchanan's desire to get forward created an overlap on the left and a shooting chance for the left-back, once found by Boden, but the resulting shot was wide of the far post.Mandeville began to pull the strings for Town, showcasing his vision with a beautiful lofted through ball for Spyrou and then a threaded pass for Boden, neither striker able to finish off the attack.It was in their own half that Chesterfield experienced real problems, Burton finding space and carving a way forward at will.Boyce put them in front by glancing home a header from a corner, then a minute later a simple passing move unlocked the Town defence and the striker was on hand to slot his second and Burton's third past Jalal.By the 34th minute the Brewers were in complete control, Edwards going one on one with Jalal and finding the net via the bar and the post.Sheridan made two changes at the interval, replacing Jalal with Luke Coddington and Robbie Weir with Curtis Weston.Coddington was called upon with 25 seconds, getting down brilliantly to tip a Boyce effort round the post before the striker was flagged offside.Chesterfield continued to toil for a quarter of an hour without retaining possession particularly well, but suddenly found themselves back in the game.Joe Rowley, on for Boden, had already blazed a great chance over the top before Mandeville's corner was headed into the top corner by Will Evans.And with a little confidence creeping back in they put together their best football of the afternoon, a slick move releasing Spyrou who fired past O'Hara but onto the post.Seconds later Spyrou left Jake Buxton standing with a dummy, only for the centre-half to haul him down and earn a yellow card.Another nice move allowed Laurence Maguire to stride forward into the box and O'Hara had to produce a fine save to deny Town a third.The second half was becoming a vast improvement on the first, for those of a blue and white persuasion, and Maguire got involved further up the pitch again, this time shooting over the top from 20 yards.Rowley had another go at driving goalwards, beating a man and allowing Jack McKay to take the shot on, a yellow shirt getting there in time to block.With three minutes remaining Maguire had another go, teed up by a deft Charlie Wakefield touch, and this one also cleared the bar.Burton had the last say, however, Lucas Akins running onto a through ball, waiting for Coddington to go to ground and then sliding the ball into the net for a 5-2 win.

Chesterfield: Jalal (Coddington 46), Smith (Wedgbury 75), Buchanan (Sheridan 70), Hollis, Evans, Yarney, Weir (Weston 46), Maguire, Mandeville (Wakefield 70), Boden (Rowley 50), Spyrou (McKay 65). Burton: O'Hara, Brayford, Daniel,Edwards, Buxton (Anderson 81), Wallace (Brown 81), Quinn (Hutchinson 77), Fraser (Sbarra 58), O'Toole, Sarkic (Akins 58), Boyce. Subs: Hawkins.Goals: Spyrou 2; Fraser 12, Boyce 29, 30, Edwards 34, Akins 90Yellow: Buxton 63Referee: James Oldham. Assistants: Stuart Richardson, Rob Rees.Attendance: 1,092 (145 away)