Kabongo Tshimanga makes goalscoring return as Chesterfield beat Barnet to go top of National League

Ollie Banks swept in the opener after two minutes but it was soon cancelled out by Sean Shields’ thumping finish from inside the area.

Akwasi Asante grabbed his third goal of the season just after the half-hour mark after Laurie Walker parried from the impressive Jeff King.

Then came a moment of pure joy as Tshimanga, last season’s top goalscorer and player of the year, slotted in after Armando Dobra slipped him in.

Victory means the Spireites knock the Bees off top spot and extend their unbeaten start to the season to five games.

Paul Cook made just one change to the starting line-up as goalkeeper Lucas Covolan was recalled following his three-match ban, Ross Fitzsimons dropping out.

Summer signing Jesurun Uchegbulam was included in the matchday squad for the first time, taking the place of Jack Clarke.

Many had wondered whether Tshimanga would be handed his first start of the season, but he continued to be named among the substitutes.

Barnet were dealt a big blow in the build-up to kick-off as star man Ephron Mason-Clark completed a move to Championship side Peterborough United for an undisclosed fee.

Chesterfield got off to the perfect when Barnet keeper Walker parried Jamie Grimes’ header from King’s corner into the path of Banks who swept the ball home for his second goal of the season.

Dobra had a glorious chance to double the lead on 16 minutes but he poked wide when one-on-one with Walker after some brilliant play by the lively Asante and then King.

Moments later, the Spireites paid the price. Shields emphatically finished high into the net from inside the area to level the score.

The Blues regained their composure and Banks tested Walker from distance before Joe Quigley forced the away stopper into another save when he met King’s cross with his head.

Covolan was almost left red-faced when Dean Gorman nearly caught him out from a long-range free-kick but the ball landed on the roof of the net to spare the Brazilian’s blushes.

King continued to threaten and he went close from a free-kick from the edge of the box as the hosts pushed for a third, but the spirited Bees kept on coming back and there were two big let-offs just before half-time.

First, Covolan made a smart save with his legs to deny Nicke Kabamba one-on-one. Seconds later, Barnet had the ball in the net through Ben Wynter but the offside flag was up.

Covolan came to Chesterfield’s rescue again immediately after the break when he saved one-on-one from Ryan De Havilland after a long ball forward caught out the home defence.

The Spireites responded with some high-tempo football and came close twice on the hour-mark.

Liam Mandeville poked a pass into the path of Quigley, who smashed the ball down the middle and Walker stood up tall to parry for a corner. From the resulting delivery, Quigley got across his marker to glance a header against the woodwork.

At this point the Blues were camped in the Barnet half and were pushing for a third, while the visitors played on the counter, but they were still right in this entertaining game.

And they were almost level when Gorman’s low strike struck the post.

Then came the moment everybody had been waiting for.

Tshimanga, off the bench for the hard-working Quigley, scored within four minutes after finishing across Walker after Dobra slipped him in.

It was a moment of pure joy as every outfield player celebrated with the Congo-born man and ‘wake me up before you go-go’ rang around the Technique.

Mandeville almost added a fourth but was denied by a great save by Walker at his near post.

There was a late debut for Uchegbulam, and Chesterfield saw out added-time comfortably.

Top of the league. Five unbeaten. Tshimanga is back. Happy days.