Roy Hodgson meme sums up wasteful Chesterfield's season so far after Crawley Town draw

Here are some of the talking points to come out of Saturday’s game...

WASTEFUL

Not for the first time this season, being wasteful in front of goal cost Chesterfield. They weren’t just ‘good’ opportunities either. They were gilt-edged. For Chey Dunkley and Dilan Markanday not to have at least hit the target from the positions they were in is pretty poor. The angle for Lee Bonis’ one-on-one was slightly against him but, just like last week against Harrogate, he should have buried a header early after the break but he made a mess of it. Even the reliable Will Grigg glanced wide and then Armando Dobra raced through but his finish was unconvincing. And in the end they paid the price. It comes back to that word ‘frustrating’ again.

SUCKER-PUNCH

Crawley’s equaliser from Jay Williams came so late in the game that the referee blew for full-time immediately after the restart. The ball into the box was not really oozing in quality and it was more a hopeful punt than anything but Williams powered in a header after getting himself in-between Sil Swinkels and Tom Pearce. It was straight down the middle of the net so the force of it perhaps caught Zach Hemming by surprise. Although it only remained 1-0, Chesterfield were cruising to the three points and had not been in any danger for the majority of the game apart from when former Spireite Ronan Darcy struck the post. They had actually played and defended pretty well and it should have been a deserved victory.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Chesterfield’s missed opportunities resulted in a bigger missed opportunity overall. They were about to cement their place in sixth in the table and only be six points off the automatic spots. But seconds later they were back down to seventh and looking over their shoulder at the teams behind them. It really has been a stop-start season. It is a bit like that popular Roy Hodgson meme when he is sat on the bench nodding his head along in anticipation of an England goal only to bow his head in disappointment at the end. It can definitely still end in success but it has certainly been far from plain-sailing. With too many draws and lacking a ruthless edge, it is not hard to pinpoint their shortcomings so far.

MANDY

Perhaps one flashpoint that Crawley may have felt aggrieved about had they lost was the decision not to send off Mandeville. The midfielder was booked early on for halting Klaidi Lolos in his tracks as he tried to escape away. Mandeville did not have any complaints. But then moments later he fouled the same Crawley player again in what could have been deemed a yellow card offence by some. In my opinion, it probably wasn’t, but it was close. Mandeville then went on to put Chesterfield in front with a deflected strike from the edge of the box on 39 minutes. It wouldn’t have been a massive surprise had the Spireites not taken any risks and brought him off at half-time because he probably would not have been allowed to make another foul. His withdrawal on the hour took that decision out of the referee’s hands.

Chesterfield: Hemming; Curtis, Dunkley, Swinkles, Pearce; Stirk, Braybrooke; Markanday (Naylor, 75), Mandeville (Dobra, 60), Duffy (Berry, 60); Bonis (Grigg, 60)

Unused subs: McFadzean, Donacien.