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Chesterfield Preview

By: Richard Hubbert
Date: 18/09/2003

CAN the Mariners turn the corner and restore hope to their faithful fans? Town face bottom club Chesterfield at Blundell Park on Saturday, in a match that could make or break Town’s season and Paul Groves’ reign as manager.

Home > 2003-2004 Season > Previews > Chesterfield (h)


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TownChesterfield
LSwindon(a)1-2
LHartlepool(h)1-8
DPeterborough(a)1-1
LBristol City(a)0-1
WWycombe(a)3-1
LBrighton(a)0-1
LNotts County(h)0-1
LBarnsley(h)0-2
LQPR(a)0-3
DPlymouth(h)1-1

Lying rock bottom of an embryonic Second Division table, Chesterfield have had a poor start the season, losing their last four games without scoring a goal in the process.

Top Scorers

 

TownChesterfield
Boulding6
Anderson3
5 Players1

Chesterfield Facts

Last Season
20th in Division Two. Chesterfield narrowly escaped relegation last season after a torrid end to the season where they slid from 9th in the New Year, to 20th position. At the start last season, they were in fine form and of course, knocked the Mariners out of the Worthington Cup in September 2002.

Manager
Roy McFarland. Experienced manager who took over from Andy Rushbury in the summer. Has had a hard start to life as the Spireites boss, failing to win in the first 8 league games.

Top Players
Chris Brandon (left). Tricky midfield player who was Chesterfield’s top scorer last season with 10 goals. Played against Town in the Worthington Cup, and is a real threat to any second division side with his darting runs into the box.

Ian Evatt. Ex-Derby County midfielder who played against the Mariners last season. Was snapped up on a free transfer by Roy MacFarland and has proved an astute acquisition. Has previous experience in division two with Northampton, whom he was on loan with a few years ago.

Team News

 

TownChesterfield

  • Town will be waiting on the fitness of Des Hamilton who missed the midweek game with Swindon. If he fails to be fit in tome, then Chris Bolder will resume in midfield.

  • Jonny Rowan is out after the ankle injury he received in midweek, so Darren Mansaram could be in for a surprise return in the Town attack. It had been thought that the young striker, who made his debut against Chesterfield last season, would be out for a number of weeks, but he has made a quick return from injury.

  • Alternatively, after scoring for the reserves in midweek, Phil Jevons could play if his contract is successfully re-negotiated in time for the game.

  • Apart from that, the Fishy expects the Mariners to be unchanged from the side that lost in midweek.
  • Caleb Folan and Mark Allott will continue up front in the continued absence of David Reeves. Chesterfield have a striker crisis similar to Town’s at the moment, and to compound their misery, they lost loan signing Mark De Bolla to injury last weekend, in his debut on loan from Charlton.

  • Mark Innes is still sidelined with injury, but defender Stuart Howson could be in line to make a start after recently returning to the side.

  • But with no new knocks picked up in the game at Brighton the other night, Chesterfield will be unchanged once again.
  • Probable Starting XI's

     

    TownChesterfield
    Aidan Davison
    John McDermott
    Darren Barnard
    Tony Crane
    Simon Ford
    Marcel Cas
    Graham Hockless
    Chris Bolder
    Stuart Campbell
    Michael Boulding
    Darren Mansaram
    Carl Muggleton
    Kevin Dawson
    Gus Uhlenbeek
    Steve Blatherwick
    Steve Payne
    Matt O’Hare
    Mark Hudson
    Chris Brandon
    Ian Evatt
    Caleb Folan
    Mark Allott

    Subs

     

    TownChesterfield
    Mike Edwards
    Liam Nimmo
    David Soames
    Paul Groves
    Jason Crowe
    Andrew Richmond
    Stuart Howson
    Gareth Davies
    Andrew Rushbury
    Adam Smith

    On This Day

    20th September 1969

  • The Mariners went down 1-0 at Port Vale in this, the 1969/70 season when Bobby Kennedy was in charge of the Town team. The Town team included the likes of Dave Boylen and Harry Wainman, but they could only help Town to a disappointing 16th place in the division four table at the end of the season.
  • Chesterfield meanwhile, who won the division four title that season, went down 2-1 at Wrexham. 2-0 down at half time, they threatened a comeback when Kevin Randall got a goal back for the Spireites.

  • Last Time Out

    Town met Chesterfield not so long ago, last September in fact, when in the Worthington Cup last season, we lost 1-0 at Blundell Park in a pretty non-eventful game. The match went to extra time and the Spireites won courtesy of a Mark Allott goal.

    Town Team: Coyne, McDermott, Gallimore (Ward), Chettle, Groves,Coldicott, Cooke (Rowan), Campbell, Pouton, Kabba, Robinson (Mansaram).
    Subs: (not used) Raven and Allaway.

    Chesterfield Team: Griemink, Robinson, Hall, Leitch, Reeves, Davies, Collins, Hulbert, McCammon, Hay, Williams.
    Subs: Quinn, Howe, J Williams.

    Attendance: 3,248    Report

    Chesterfield Head-to-Head (29th on The Opposition Ladder).

    Prediction

    Fishy prediction: Chesterfield can’t score. We can’t keep a clean sheet. Something has to give somewhere, but we predict a Town victory, but not without goals. 4-2 Town Reader's POMs

    Directions

    Click on the link for directions to Blundell Park (left).

    Admission Prices

    Click on the link for ticket prices to Blundell Park.




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