TOURNAMENTS
Sixth round of matches in Over 50's League Report
The Spireites Over-50s team played their Sixth round of matches in the Derbyshire League in late January. It was a difficult round of matches against the top 3 teams in the league!
In Match 1, sloppy defending led to a very early goal for the opponents Etwall. The Senior Spireites then dominated the match but could not take any of thier chances and conceded a breakaway goal at the end, leaving the referee to comment that the best team had lost the game.
Match 2 was against Heanor. The boys in blue again went behind but were level when Dave Simpson scored a well-taken penalty following an area encroachment by one of the defenders. A quick attack then led to a nicely placed finish by Darryl Davies for the Spireites to take a 2-1 lead, which was held until 2 minutes from the end when Heanor equalised. A great game of football!
In Match 3, The Spireites took on top of the league Old Sawley. In a closely fought game, the Spireites again had the best chances but lost the game 1-0 following a good move forward by the opponents.
Manager Darryl Davies commented "the improvement in the team's play was clear to see as we matched these top teams and probably should have won one or two of the matches. If we continue to improve as we are, we expect to see results start to match the performances as the season progresses. Next up is the Cup Quarter-Finals, where we get a re-match with Etwall."
Final Round of matches in Over 60's League Report
The fifth and final round of matches for the Over 60's took place in mid-January against Brancote Reds and Nottingham Loughborough.
The first match was a good game played in the right spirit. Chesterfield took the lead with a half chance that fell to David Walker who hit the ball true and low to score. Bramcote Reds equilised with a great strike shortly after, leaving John Warner no chance to save. However, Paul Sloane restored the lead with a snap shot from close range. Unfortunately, on the stroke of half time a deflected free kick beat John again and that was virtually the last kick of the half.
In the Second half both sides had chances but could not score with defences on top.
Final Score 2-2
The second game saw Chesterfield play the side that beat them on penalties in the Cup Final last season, Loughborough.
Chesterfield started brightly and were 2 goals up by Half time with crisp finishes from free kicks by Church and Quinn . Both goals assisted by Dave Simpson playing a quarterback roll all game at free kicks
In the second half Dave Simpson scored within 20 seconds of the start and added a 4th shortly afterwards. Loughborough pulled a goal back to make it 4-1 but Chesterfield were controlling the game well before this and then Carl Gibbins added a 5th with a shot giving the keeper no chance at all. Final Score 5-1
Chesterfield played 10 matches in the league and only lost 2 games both by a single goal. Unfortunatley, they drew too many matches from winning positions which, in the end, which was the team's achilles heel. On a positive note in the 10 games there were 9 different scorers over the season which is an excellent achievement..
Manger Terry Ashley comments on team's performance this season was "I could not have been more proud of you lot, you have given everything every game. With a bit of luck things might have gone better for us. Lets come back and win the Cup this year!"
Match Day Squad: (back row) Rob Church, John Warner, David Simpson, John Quinn, Paul Slone. (front row) Pete Jacques (supporter), Terry Ashley (Manager),Manohar Raju,
Dave Walker,Carl Gibbins,
Over 70's Fifth round of league matches
The fifth round of matches took place in early January with another great set of results with the team continuing to play well together.
The squad had thier best set of results so far this season, winning four games, drawing two and losing only one, albeit that one was to their nemesis, Matlock. The Senior Spireites scored 6 goals and conceded 3 goals which came in only two of the six matches meaning that there were four clean sheets which is excellent.
These results could provide the momentum to take second place in the table in the next round of games. It was also great to have Pete Jaques play his first competitive league game of the season which we hope is the first of many.
The team sported a new kit which was kindly sponsored by Not Just T-Shirts in Chesterfield who were very helpful in doing the printing and getting the shirts ready on time. Thanks to Andy for his help and details of his business can be found at https://www.printingandembroidery.co.uk/
Latest Mel Pullen Cup won by the "Spares"!
The 5th Round of the Mel Pullen Cup took place at the 4G pitches at Cavendish Playing Field Matlock in early July.
Unfortunately, Mansfield Reds pulled out at the last minute leaving 3 teams, the holders of the Trophy MATLOCK , CHESTERFIELD Senior Spireites and MANSFIELD Town FC . To keep the 4 team format it was decided that subs from Mansfield and Chesterfield would form a forth team called the "SPARES" made up of substitutes.
The "SPARES" did really well and in fact ended up winning the trophy with 7 points (2 wins and a draw) without conceding a goal in all 3 games.
The Chesterfield part of the "SPARES " Richard BRADLEY, Steve DALISON and Mel PULLEN all of who play in sessions at Mansfield and Chesterfield. They were ably assisted by Chesterfield players Derek LOWE and Peter JACQUES.
The "SPARES" will defend the title in the next round to be held later this year .
The "SPARES" played in Mansfield town yellow shirts and A White Bib over this . Pete Jaques however refused to have the Mansfield Shirt next to his skin!
A good day was had by all and a special thanks to Dave Walker for organising the event.
Almelo 2025 Tournament details - click on photo to go to the Blog page
