Chesterfield's defeat to Swindon Town is a 'hammer blow', says Paul Cook
Paul Cook described Chesterfield’s 2-1 defeat to promotion rivals Swindon Town as a ‘hammer blow.’
The Spireites fell behind early on when Finley Munroe headed in Ollie Palmer’s cross but John Fleck lashed in an instant equaliser. The hosts dominated the rest of the half but they could not kick-on after the break and they trailed again when Joe Snowdon drilled in from a corner.
The Blues huffed and puffed but they could not break Swindon, who played the last five minutes with 10-men after Munroe collected his second booking, down as they slipped to their first home league defeat of the season which means they drop out of the play-offs and down to ninth. The Robins, meanwhile, climbed to second. It was another game where Chesterfield left points out there and they missed the chance to get closer to the top three.
On the loss, Cook said: “It probably summed up our season so far. We promised so much. Our same achilles heels keep coming out. Everyone is aware of them. It is tough because you are stopping yourself from gaining that final commodity of confidence and belief to go and win games. Today was probably a rollercoaster of our season. It feels like a hammer blow defeat.”
Chesterfield’s first-half display was arguably their best of the season at home, similar to when they played Mansfield in the Carabao Cup, but they could not reach the same heights after the break. Cook told the DT: "Our first-half performance was probably Mansfield-like. We were excellent and I really enjoyed watching us. But we didn’t start the second-half. Every first opportunity teams seem to score at our ground. We keep giving ourselves a leg down in terms of conceding goals. It won’t go on and it can’t go on. If we keep picking the same players and keep doing the same stuff the same things are going to happen so something will give on that.
"The first effort on our goal in the second-half is a goal and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb. I thought it was a really good game. Should we have lost? In my opinion, no. But we also conceded a couple of big chances when we were chasing the game. It is not how I like to see us, I want to see us go on and win games.”
On what was missing in the second 45, Cook said: : "The energy just came out of the team. Should I have made subs a litle bit earlier? Possibly. You are just trying to let lads feel their way into the half. It is tough to take.”
The defeat means Chesterfield are one point off the play-offs and four off the top three. Cook added: "Someone will have to put a run a together. Unfortunately for us at the minute, it does not look like being us. But, as our supporters know, we won’t just go down with a whimper, that is for certain.”
Janoi Donacien was not included in the matchday squad and Cook revealed that the defender has picked up a hamstring injury. He added: "JD has picked up an injury in training which is going to see him out for a few weeks. For this level he is like a Rolls Royce. I neglected from putting him quickly because I wanted to build his confidence up. We all know how good he is but he has had a setback which will see him out which is a blow.”