4th October 2014 Chesterfield FC versus Sheffield United

As a club based pretty much right in the middle of the country, Chesterfield is a team surrounded by rivals. Mansfield, obviously, is the club’s arch rivals but any game in South Yorkshire is usually quite fiery too. It might seem odd to outsiders now, but many fans look at the Sheffield clubs as quite large rivals. Growing up in Chesterfield, as a Spireite, you were surrounded with not only those typical glory supporters of Man United or Liverpool, but lads who supported the Sheffield sides. They weren’t usually glory hunters- they went to the occasional match, and their dad probably supported them too, but it was so annoying listening to them brag about their Championship match ups, in their 30,000-seater stadiums, with players other people had actually heard of. Meanwhile I was going to Crewe Alexandra and watching my side lose. There was nothing to brag about.

Of course, United and Wednesday are bigger clubs than Chesterfield, there may even be a bit of an inferiority complex on our side, but there was a time, about a decade ago, when Chesterfield could comfortably go toe to toe with one of them.

Chesterfield were just a fantastic side. The line-up speaks for itself. It’s filled with names that make up the best players the club has had this century. Tommy Lee, undoubtedly one of the best goalkeepers in the lower leagues and a Chesterfield legend. Tendayi Darikwa, Ian Evatt, Georg Margreitter and Danny Jones keeping the back line. In the middle of the pitch there were Samy Morsy and Jimmy Ryan- perhaps the best midfield two the club has ever had. Then in the final third of the pitch there were Daniel Johnson, the unbeatable Gary Roberts, Jay O’Shea- Chesterfield’s hero at Burton Albion and Eoin Doyle who, that season, would become one of the hottest goal scorers in Europe. We even had Sam Clucas on the bench, and cult hero Armand Gnanduillet sat next to him.

The match started of quite scrappy, with neither side getting to play much football but in the 26^th minute Chesterfield dealt the first blow. The scoring was opened by Jimmy Ryan, he slammed home a scorching shot into the bottom right corner from outside the box.

A few minutes later, United striker Michael Higdon was shown red for a tackle on Danny Jones, causing the fullback to flop around on the ground, fish-like, while slapping the turf. His reaction to the tackle has since gone on to be an infamous moment between Chesterfield fans, there’s even a twitter GIF of it. One of those little moments that, for some reason or another, stay with you out of its ludicrous-ness.

In the 42^nd minute a second red card was then shown to Spireite ‘keeper Tommy Lee for a rash tackle outside his box. A teenage Myles Wright came on for Jay O’Shea to replace the veteran goalie and make his senior debut. A daunting task for anyone, let alone for a player coming into a sold-out local derby in League One.

With both teams down to ten men and just before the half time whistle blew, Gary Roberts scored Chesterfield’s second of the day with a gut-busting run that came from a defensive error and resulted in a smart finish underneath United’s ‘keeper Mark Howard.

Eoin Doyle then piled on the misery by scoring in the 73^rd minute. He latched onto a bobble in the box and smashed the ball home- it was his 13^th goal in just 11 games. It was at a time where he always looked less likely to miss than score at any opportunity.

Sheffield United did fight back in the closing stages of the match, Marc McNulty capitalised on a spill from the young Myles Wright in the 81^st minute and Chesterfield fans became even more nervous when Neill Collins headed the ball home past the ‘keeper from a Jamal Campbell-Ryce freekick to make it 3-2. But the Spireites were able to ride out their nerves and see out the game in injury time, securing the three points and pushing themselves into the League One playoff places- a position that they’d find themselves in for the rest of the season.

The fates of both sides after the game in the long run are drastic. For Sheffield United, within a few short years they would find themselves in the Premier League, playing great football and beating massive sides under Chris Wilder. For Chesterfield, a failed playoff campaign saw an exodus of many of our best players. Paul Cook left, Chesterfield dropped down the leagues like a stone and found themselves battling against relegation to the National League North. It was a bitter time, only a few years prior we were equals and then the two clubs’ words became drastically opposed. Chesterfield have since learned to win again, familiar faces like Cook and Gary Roberts have returned and things, generally, are looking up rather than down. It is unlikely, but I welcome the day that Chesterfield can welcome one of our bigger rivals as equals, and I can finally brag to those school friends again.

The Post Match