Harsh or stupid? Chesterfield striker's bizarre red card swings momentum in Harrogate Town draw

Here are some talking points from Saturday’s game...

STUPIDITY OR HARSH?

The game hinged on Lee Bonis’ bizarre red card on the hour. There can be no complaints over his first yellow. It was a professional foul which prevented a dangerous counter-attack. His second one came in strange circumstances, with the striker not even on the pitch as he waited on the sidelines to come back on. He rolled the ball away with his foot to stop Harrogate from taking a quick throw-in. At first, it looked like Paul Cook had been booked. No one in the ground reacted or seemed to know exactly what had happened. Then Bonis, who was about to be substituted, headed down the tunnel. Some might say it was a stupid act from the Northern Ireland international because he gave the referee a decision to make. Others could argue that it happens all the time and it was harsh and that the referee could have let it slide. Either way, it put Chesterfield in a challenging and difficult position and, in the end, they couldn’t bat away Harrogate pressure any longer and they conceded with six minutes of normal time remaining.

COOK’S COMMENTS

Cook was a frustrated and annoyed figure in his post-match interview which lasted one question and one minute. There were boos at the full-time whistle and, from my point of view, they were for the referee, and Cook initially thought the same. That was until some of his players told him they had received ‘abuse’ from some supporters. Cook said he wouldn’t stand for it and even suggested he would walk away from the job if it happened again. Emotions were clearly running high after a disappointing afternoon so it will be fascinating to see what happens from here on in.

UNEXPECTED TWIST

Chesterfield were 1-0 up after 12 minutes and in control. Bonis had already hit the crossbar before he did extremely well to volley a sublime pass from Liam Mandeville into the far corner. On another day, Bonis could have had a hat-trick. In fact, he actually took the most difficult chance of them all. The Spireites were in not in any danger. It was looking like a comfortable and straight forward afternoon. But Chesterfield’s season so far has been anything but so we should have known to expect the unexpected. It has been a stop-start season and they just can’t seem to get going. It felt like a defeat. But having played with 10-men for half an hour and with Harrogate pushing for a winner right until the death, at least the Blues managed to cling to a point.

Chesterfield: Hemming; Curtis, Dunkley, Swinkels, Pearce (Donacien, 70); Braybrooke, Naylor (Dobra, 85); Markanday (Stirk, 70), Mandeville (Ladapo, 70), Duffy; Bonis.

Unused subs: McFadzean, Berry, Grigg.