Chesterfield 2 Oxford United 1

Jack Shoemark

Football matches last from the first whistle until the final whistle. Oxford were in a position to get something from their encounter with Chesterfield as the final whistle approached. However, it was to be heartbreak as Chris Atkinson slid the ball past Ryan Clarke to hand the home side all three points in the 92nd minute. It ensured that United would again return home from the North with nothing to show for their efforts.

In complete contrast from the end of the game, the Yellows had made the perfect start. Peter Leven delivered a fantastic corner onto the head of Johnny Mullins who looped a header into the Chesterfield net to give United the lead after 59 seconds. A few minutes later and the lead could have been extended, recalled Jake Forster-Caskey made a mockery of his small height by beating Drew Talbot in the air to send a thumping header towards the top corner of the net, unfortunately, Chesterfield keeper Tommy Lee was alert and made a splendid diving save to his left. Oxford were dominating the game but still had to keep their guard around their own box. Ryan Clarke saved a low shot that came through a crowd of players and Tendayi Darikwa shot wide from the edge of the penalty area.

The golden chance to kill the game fell to James Constable. As the Chesterfield fans were booing their side’s performance, a cross was poorly cleared, it hit Constable and the fans favourite turned and volleyed wildly into the U’s fans behind the goal. To give some credit to ‘Beano’, it was impressive that he managed to completely miss the target from around 7 yards out. If that was frustrating, it got even more so for United. Some classy play between Andy Whing, Simon Heslop and Alfie Potter saw the latter backheel the ball to release Constable inside the area – he never got the chance to get to the ball as he was rugby tackled to the floor by a man in blue. The man that mattered was the man in red and he paid no attention to the roars of the Oxford fans and the shouts of Constable.

The two incidents had a game-changing feeling about them and sure enough as the board went up to show two minutes of additional time, a big change was about to happen. Andy Whing clattered into Brennan Dickenson and from the resulting free kick, Chesterfield won a corner. Despite this corner taking place well over the allotted two minutes added on, it was allowed to be taken. Dickenson whipped the ball into the front post where it caused chaos, a flying Ryan Clarke couldn’t gather the ball and it rolled out to Liam Cooper who lashed the loose ball high into the roof of the net. Somehow, despite United’s dominance they went into the half time break level.

The second half started with Chesterfield (as expected) looking to take a stranglehold of the game. Dickenson shot narrowly wide whilst both Danny Whitaker and Darikwa made a number of dangerous runs at the United defence. Andy Whing made a fantastic block (possibly with his face) to deny Dickenson at the back post. Despite the home side coming into the game, the half never really picked up from first gear. The introduction of Sean Rigg and JP Pittman showed that Chris Wilder had more than a point on his shopping list. Rigg looked to have overcome the flu that prevented him from starting the game, as he matched the runs of Whitaker and Darikwa. Pittman was also involved; as he knocked the ball past Cooper in a burst of pace, the on loan defender decided that he was not going to catch the ball. A challenge that wouldn’t have looked out of place in high streets around the country at nightclub chucking out time launched Pittman into the air and then advertising hoardings. The referee decided this assault was only worth a yellow card and perhaps had this on his mind as a few minutes later, Alfie Potter looked to skip past Nathan Smith and received similar treatment to Pittman, and again, amazingly, only a yellow card was produced. Everything seemed to be going against United and when Adam Chapman trotted onto the pitch as the game entered stoppage time, it got worse. The substitution unsettled Oxford and as instructions were shouted from player to player, Chesterfield had taken their throw in. The ball was played into Marc Richards who superbly backheeled it into the path of the onrushing Atkinson who calmly slotted past Clarke to send the Spireites fans wild and the Oxford fans distraught.

Wilder made a number of changes from the side that couldn’t score against Torquay. Tom Craddock is rumoured to be out until Christmas with a rib problem and was replaced by the returning Alfie Potter. Jake Forster-Caskey came in for Sean Rigg who wasn’t deemed fit enough to start after suffering from the flu and Tony Capaldi replaced the injured Liam Davis. Rigg and Pittman replaced Simon Heslop and JFC with around 25 minutes to go whilst Chapman replaced the tiring Potter.

The referee was Dean Whitestone who booked Whing quite rightly, Lee Cox, probably harshly and Mullins for berating him after Chesterfield’s second goal. However, his decision to not give a penalty for the Constable incident, allow the first half to run and run and not produce a red card for either or both of the Chesterfield assaults means he is a very nasty man. The attendance was 5433 with 426 in the away end.

United sit 18th in League Two, eight points away from the playoffs, but more worryingly only six points above the relegation zone. Gillingham extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points with a late win against Morecambe. The chasing pack stuttered; Port Vale let a two goal lead slip at home to York to draw whilst Cheltenham went down 4-2 at Rotherham. Wycombe now sit bottom of the pile after defeat at Northampton, Aldershot rose above them with a point at AFC Wimbledon. United’s next opponents, Barnet drew at home to Accrington on Friday night.