What we learned from Chesterfield's win against Barnet as Spireites top National League

The goals came from Ollie Banks, Akwasi Asante and Kabongo Tshimanga at the Technique Stadium on Friday night.

Here are some of the big talking points from the game...

KABS IS BACK

There is only one place we can start and that is Tshimanga’s goalscoring return.

There had been a lot of talk before the game about whether last season’s 25-goal man would start this one but he had to settle for a place on the bench again.

With 20 minutes remaining he replaced the hard-working Joe Quigley, and four minutes later he had the ball in the back of the net.

The pass from Armando Dobra to send him clear was sublime, and you just had a feeling it was meant to be and Kabby was never going to miss.

It was his first goal since February, and incredibly his sixth against Barnet in his last three matches. They must be sick of the sight of him.

It will be one of the moments of the season no matter what happens from here until May. You could not help but be chuffed for him because he is so humble and very polite, and he isn’t half bad at football either!

A fit and firing Tshimanga is a scary thought with how this Chesterfield team is shaping up so far.

‘ONLY ONE JOE QUIGLEY’

Tshimanga will have to be patient though because Quigley is putting in some impressive performance up front.

Although this made it no goals in five games, his contributions are not going unnoticed and his hard work is really appreciated by everybody.

Last season there were sarcastic ‘cheers’ from some fans when he got substituted, but those days are gone. Not for the first time this season he got a standing ovation and there was even a chrous of ‘there’s only one Joe Quigley’ as he left the pitch.

He deserved a goal here, and he came very close with a header that hit the woodwork.

Good on him.

COVOLAN RETURNS

Manager Paul Cook has a big selection dilemma ahead of this early top of the table clash.

In the end he opted to recall goalkeeper Lucas Covolan after serving his three-match ban, Ross Fitzsimons perhaps a tad unlucky to drop out.

But Covolan repaid the manager’s faith, pulling off two vital one-on-one saves at crucial times in this game.

There were one or two examples of him being targeted by the opposition, and I think we can expect more attempts to get a reaction from him in the future. But hopefully he has learnt his lesson because he is unlikely to get another chance.

TOP OF THE LEAGUE

Fair enough, it does not mean anything at this stage, but it is still a nice feeling.

The bigger picture is the Spireites are performing well, are five unbeaten and have scored in every match so far. The goals are flowing from all areas, with Banks having now scored two and Asante leading the way with three. Dobra also has a goal and three assists now.

DEBUT

By no means the big headline from this encounter but it was nice to see Jesurun Uchegbulam come off the bench late on to make his debut after signing from Matlock Town in the summer. He took the place of Jack Clarke, who is not injured, in the squad.

TEAM

Covolan; King, Williams, Grimes, Horton, Oldaker, Banks; Mandeville, Dobra (Cooper, 79), Asante (Uchegbulam, 87); Quigley (Tshimanga, 69). Unused subs: Maguire, Jones.