Notts County 2-3 Chesterfield: In Meadow Lane, There Is A Player Throwing Football Boots
Credit: Thomas McAtee
It was the race for promotion from the fourth tier that captured the imagination of the TV cameras this week as Chesterfield made the short trip across the East Midlands to face fellow hopefuls Notts County in a game that, at this late stage, can officially be deemed a six-pointer. Both sides capitulated at the play-off semi final stage last time out and are looking to go a step further this year. With Notts entrenched in the battle for automatic promotion and Chesterfield one of a number of sides stuck around the fringes of the play-offs, could we see both make a stunning return to the third tier so soon after escaping non-league?
These two are shining examples for the case to allocate an extra promotion place to the National League. Notts beat Chesterfield on penalties in the 22/23 play-off final after a protracted title race with Wrexham that saw the Magpies achieve a measly 107 points, and then the undeterred Spireites went and hit 98 points en route to winning the title in the following season. Since their promotions, both have been immediately contenders to make the jump to League One, not to mention the fact that the teams that went up alongside them in Wrexham and Bromley are in the Championship play-offs and top of League Two respectively. It’s hard to make the argument that just two of the six sides currently averaging 1 point per game or less in this season’s League Two table deserve to be relegated, maybe adding a third spot to the drop zone would give some of these sides the kick up the backside they so desperately need.
After finishing up six points shy of the automatic places last year and suffering the heartbreak of a play-off defeat to eventual promotion winners Wimbledon, Notts County are challenging themselves to avoid the play-off lottery altogether and make the jump into the top three for an automatic place in next season’s third tier. They’ve been going well so far, but competition is stiff. If they had their current points total at this stage last year they’d be in third, just five points from Walsall in top spot in the midst of their end-of-year collapse. As it stands, however, they’re in fourth, four points from Cambridge in third and a seismic nine points from frontrunners Bromley. They could end up finishing on significantly more points that last year and it still may not be enough, all they can do is keep picking up as many points as possible and pushing Cambridge to the wire for the final ten games of the season. They’ll certainly be wanting to avoid any ridiculous mistakes, although that’s easier said than done at Meadow Lane.
The game showed promise from the off, Notts have one of the division’s sturdiest defences while Chesterfield’s superior attacking prowess is what separates them from the rest of the play-off chasers thus far. It was the visitors who would striker first, courtesy of their talismanic Albanian forward Armando Dobra. It’s been a difficult season by his lofty standards, after hitting double figures for goals in each of his three seasons as a Spireite, this was just his fifth time hitting the net in a campaign that has been hampered by injury. Still, having him fit and firing for the run in could be exactly what Chesterfield need to drag them over the line come May.
The goal came courtesy of some astounding work by Dobra’s opposite winger Dilan Markanday. He won the ball well in his own half, before showing great feet to twist and turn his way through five County defenders as he marauded into the final third. He shifted the ball out wide to left-back Tom Pearce, who cut it back to Dobra. The Albanian was tackled, but the ball could only fall as far as Markanday, who had continued his run into the area. The winger laid it back off to Dobra who fired low and hard beyond James Belshaw in the Notts net to give his side the all-important lead after just 17 minutes. It was his first goal since September, and the Spireites faithful will be hoping he gets back up to speed as soon as possible. A player of his quality could be the difference between play-off defeat and a joyous day out at Wembley.
It was a surprisingly feisty affair from minute one at Meadow Lane, with both sides leaving some questionable challenges on their opponents early on to stamp their authority on the game. Goalscorer Dobra had been on the wrong end of a nasty challenge from behind that saw the perpetrator Ollie Norburn receive the game’s first booking after just 9 minutes, and the two were involved with each other again shortly after Dobra gave Chesterfield the advantage. Pearce looked for Dobra with a ball forward from full-back, and Norburn beat him to it and won the ball in a challenge that was ultimately deemed fair by the referee. In the tussle, Dobra lost a boot. These things happen, no big deal! Just slip it back on and play on. Except, in a moment of pure rash, childish rage, Norburn picked up the loose boot and launched it off the field of play. The referee had no choice but to dish out a second yellow, ending Norburn’s day after just 19 minutes and condemning County to playing the vast majority of a massive game with just ten men, after already going 1-0 down. I’ve scoured the depths of the internet looking for a Notts County fan defending his actions, and I can’t find a single example. Football fans will defend almost anything, and happily cry conspiracy when any decision doesn’t go their way, to have the whole footballing world united in the fact you deserved to walk is an impressive achievement from Norburn. I can’t imagine his manager Martin Paterson had many kind words for him after the full-time whistle. An indefensible act of idiocy that ultimately cost his side the game, if County finish within a point or two of the automatic places and lose the play-offs, it could be crucial.
Chesterfield could, and probably should, have doubled their lead as Tom Naylor saw his free header from a corner crash into the upright. Notts could have easily sunk into themselves and looked rattled, but even down to ten the home side looked dangerous, and they levelled up the scoreline after 36 minutes. Harald Tangen and Tom Iorpenda combined well through the centre with some slick one-touch play before the latter found the overlapping run of Jodi Jones down the left-hand side. The Malta international will never recreate his record-breaking 24 assist season of two years ago, but you still can’t allow him the freedom to deliver a cross out wide. He picked out a cross that, if not for the intervention of Chesterfield centre half Sil Swinkels, would almost certainly have been turned in at the far post by the onrushing Matthew Dennis. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, his intervention could only divert the ball into the bottom corner of his own net. Chesterfield suddenly found themselves level in a game they’d largely dominated against a team that were a man down, and Notts wouldn't make it easy for them to retake the lead.
If anyone was going to score a big goal in a game in the East Midlands, it was always going to be Tom Naylor. He scored the winner in this fixture last year and has devoted large swathes of his career to sides in the area, turning out for Alfreton, Mansfield, Derby, Burton and now Chesterfield across his long and storied career in the EFL and National League. Into his third year as a Spireite, the 34 year-old bagged his side’s second of the game, and his seventh of the season, to put them back in the driving seat before half time. Some more good work from Chesterfield saw the ball flash across the six-yard box just inches away from being prodded home by striker Lee Bonis. Hope was not lost, however, as the loose ball was collected by Pearce who crossed it back into the area and onto the unmarked head of a late-arriving Naylor. Naylor strode into the area as if there was a massive gap in the Notts midfield where a player should have been. Funny, that. The header was low and precise, finding the corner before the ‘keeper could even move. With 44 minutes on the clock, that looked to be that for the first half. Unless?
Once again Jodi Jones delivered a sumptuous cross from the left, and once again he was denied the assist. Notts took a free kick quickly in the dying embers of the first half, finding Jones in space out wide with the Chesterfield defence back-pedalling. Nobody had chance to put a challenge in before he had bent the ball to the far post and onto the head of the awaiting Dennis. His header was saved by a remarkable stop from Zach Hemming, who just about managed to claw it out of the net. Unfortunately for the Chesterfield man, Matty Platt was on hand to tap home the rebound and draw his side level once again as the curtain finally closed on an exhilarating first 45. Fortunately for on-call cardiologists across the East Mids, the second period wasn’t nearly as breathless as the first.
Something switched in Chesterfield in the second half. The opportunity for a break from the chaos allowed them to call down and reflect, and they realised that they were playing against ten men that simply couldn’t outrun them over the course of the game. They kept it steady, kept probing and finally got themselves back in the lead after 20 minutes of patient work. And this time, they held on.
Having collected his boots, Dobra spurned a good chance of his own creation over the bar. Sammy Braybrooke also sent one wide from range as they searched for the all-important fifth goal of the game. The encouraging signs led them down the right path in the end, with Dobra and Braybrooke both heavily involved. The Albanian worked it down the left before cutting it back to Braybrooke in midfield. A quick one-two with a teammate saw Braybrooke receive the ball in the Ollie Norburn-shaped hole in the centre of the park. This space afforded to him allowed him to pick out a peach of a pass to the far post, just right for the unmarked Liam Mandeville to latch onto and head his side into the lead for the third time that afternoon.
The rest of the game played out exactly as the visitors would’ve hoped for, with the better of the few remaining chances falling Chesterfield’s way as they took control of the game and didn’t allow County to find there way back into the tie. Three goals and three points, a perfect day out for the Spireites.
Notts are eight points clear of dropping from the play-offs, so you’d think there spot inside the top seven is all-but secured. They’re four points from Cambridge, and just goal difference clear of Salford in 5th and a point ahead of 6th placed Swindon. Cambridge and County have a game in hand on Gary Neville’s boys and the Swindon lot, so the battle for the final automatic promotion spot seems to be between the Magpies and the U’s. They’ll need to tighten up their discipline, having lost their last two home games as a direct result of going a man down, if they’re going to make any sort of push for the top three. They have a fairly routine fixture list in front of them, with only two sides currently occupying the top 10 places in the league left to play. Those games? Salford and Cambridge away. Automatic promotion could be won and lost across those two Saturdays in April, certainly one to keep an eye on and the end of the season draws in.
It was a great victory for Chesterfield that leaves them occupying the final play-off place in 7th going into the midweek fixtures. Their problem this year, as with the rest of the chasing pack, has been consistency. They won the opening three games of the season, and won three back-to-back over the Christmas period, but other than that have failed to win successive league games over the rest of the season. They’ve drawn more matches than any other side in the Football League, and it’s their inability to grind out these results into wins that holds them back from being a true challenger at the very top of the division. At their best, they are fantastic, they just need to find their best more often. With Dobra back fit and firing, Chesterfield have nine games left to prove themselves worthy of the play-offs. They have Grimsby, Crewe, Oldham and Swindon left to play, who are all their direct competition for the play-off places, and other than that they play sides that are entrenched in the bottom half of the division. With no games left against the three dominant sides, and all their closest opponents there to have points taken from them, it’s all in Chesterfield’s hands going into the run in. It won’t be easy for the Spireites, don’t get it twisted.