Chesterfield midfielder missed draw against MK Dons after partner went into labour just before game
Ryan Stirk missed Chesterfield’s 1-1 draw against MK Dons because his partner went into labour just before the game.
The midfielder has been a strong performer since signing for the Spireites this summer from Walsall so his absence from the team-sheet was a surprise. With a couple of injuries in central midfield already, the thought of losing another one was not something the Blues needed but thankfully that is not the case.
“We had the call off Ryan just as I was turning up to the stadium,” first team coach Gary Roberts said. “His missus is in labour. I have not had any news but all our thoughts are with Ryan and his missus.”
It was Stirk’s central midfield partner Tom Naylor who headed in Liam Mandeville’s corner with just four minutes remaining which earned Chesterfield a point after Rushian Hepburn-Murphy drilled the visitors in front on 25 minutes.
On Naylor, Roberts said: “I thought he was excellent today and he deserved a goal for his performance and for our performance in the second-half.”
It was a tight game between two sides who are tipped to win promotion and a draw was probably a fair result in the end, with clear chances limited.
Roberts told the DT: “Without being biased, we didn’t do enough in the first-half to merit getting a goal but I do feel we deserved a point out of our second-half performance. But I didn’t think we deserved to lose the game and possibly didn’t deserve to win either. At the minute, it does feel like we are being punished. Teams are not having a load of attempts on our goal. I think we have conceded the second least amount of shots in the division and we are getting punished but we don’t cry.”
Roberts continued: “I think it is a good point in the end. We went 1-0 down with a little bit of a ricochet, at the minute those things are going in the other teams’ favour. I don't think they had threatened the goal until then, first shot on goal and it went in. We thought that was a slice of luck for them.
“I thought we were a little bit flat in the first-half. I didn’t think they hurt us but in possession we were a tiny bit flat. We couldn’t get momentum going in the game. You could feel it around the stadium.
“I thought in the second-half we were much stronger. I thought we threatened their backline more and I thought we deserved a minimum point. I thought we were by far the better team in the second-half and that we more than deserved a point.”
He added: “I thought we finished the game ever so well. At times I thought they were hanging on a bit. We were the team that was pushing. I think the subs all influenced the game.”