Chesterfield work up a sweat in stalemate with Sheffield United - talking points

The pre-season friendly ticked all the required boxes, if not providing the sun-baked crowd with a goal.

Here’s five observations from the game from a Chesterfield perspective.

Case for the defence

A clean sheet against Championship opposition isn’t to be sniffed at, particularly considering Alfie Pond, Jack Simpson and Junior Eccleston have only just been thrown together.

Simpson played some nice balls out of the defence, Pond was steady and Eccleston is quick and has been linking well with Dilan Markanday down the right. Still only 19, he’s an investment as much as a signing.

Case for the attack Chesterfield are easy on the eye and there was some typically tidy approach play without a cutting edge.

Will Grigg was again missing, fuelling the doubts about his future at the SMH, and there was the familiar figure of Lee Bonis leading the line up front.

New attacker Ruel Sotiriu got a run in the last half-hour but another striker ought to be on the radar before the big kick-off rolls around.

Josh Koroma

Paul Cook wants his season-long loan signing to get a smile back on his face after a rough old return to Leyton Orient last season.

Koroma struggled there and although as a winger his currency isn’t all about goals, he has gone more than 30 appearances without finding the net.

He produced one or two good flashes of good stuff on Saturday. One curler was deflected wide and it was his lovely diagonal ball that ended with Markanday rattling the crossbar.

The absentees

The old cliche about a “busy treatment room” applies at the moment.

Injuries of varying levels of worry were behind the absences of Dylan Duffy, Will Pearce, Will Dickson, Ryan Stirk, Kyle McFadzean and Malik Owolabi-Belewu on Saturday.

The one-month cushion until the start of the season is needed but for some of them, Owolabi-Belewu and Dickson in particular, it won't be long enough.

The style

I’ve not been on the Chesterfield reporting gig for long but do like the way they try to play.

Don’t know how all you long-term Spireites followers feel, but getting the ball down and trying to work opportunities is brave in a division where the “beautiful game” often gets a black eye and a busted nose. So many go direct and play the percentages.

Chesterfield’s style demands more of coaches to get players comfortable and confident with what they’re being asked to do.

Sammy Braybrooke, Sam Curtis and Sil Swinkels, now fresh in at Sheffield Wednesday, were able to take on the instructions mid-stream last season. The hope is the latest batch of newcomers can do the same.