Functional display earns Chesterfield a vital point

Chesterfield turned in a functional - if uninspiring - display on Saturday in a 3-3 draw away at Coalville Town in Midlands Division 2.

In stark contrast to the previous week’s win at home to Streetly, Chesterfield delivered a scrappy performance but still came away with what could prove to be a valuable point in the title race.

The visitors got off to the perfect start when Christian Battye was on hand to open the scoring inside the opening minutes.

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Coalville rallied, however, and equalised from a penalty corner after a period of sustained pressure; the home side were buoyed by the goal and added a second soon after to take the lead, leaving Chesterfield stunned.

At this stage it was Coalville that looked the better of the two sides, with midfielders Calum Slaney and Phil Sign dictating play.

On a difficult playing surface Chesterfield struggled to find any momentum but were still able to carve out chances.

Dan Molloy went close after a surging run and Hugh Flassman shot just wide of the post from the top of the circle.

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As the first half drew to a close top scorer Flassman was on hand to convert a defence splitting pass from Johnny Hancock in one of the few moments of genuine quality Chesterfield produced in the opening 35 minutes.

In truth an end to end second half could have gone either way but Coalville ‘keeper Paul Glover pulled off a series of fine saves to keep Chesterfield at bay and the home side were guilty of missing several gilt edged chances of their own. Coalville took the lead midway through the half via a deflected effort that crept past Matt Lloyd. Thankfully for Chesterfield, Molloy was on hand to rescue a point late on – his first time flick nestled in the side netting to draw the scores level at 3-3.

Skipper Michael Fearn said: “We’ve been better but we dug in and got a point. It wasn’t easy but we showed great character despite not playing well.”

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