OCTOBER - A PRETTY DECENT MONTH
By John Taylor
On the back of the frustrating visit to
The second half, whilst not as lively, provided decent entertainment with a spirited fight-back from the Red Dragons, only to be thwarted by Peter Leven's first Spireite goal on the hour after good set-up play by Lowry. The previously unseen Nicky Travis got to join the action with 19 minutes left and the Chief came on for the last 9 to notch his 750th league appearance. So, the match ended 4-0 to massive applause from the 151 Town fans at the game and a degree of incredulity from those not in attendance.
Next on the menu was the juicy treat of
The second period started much as the first with Town in the ascendancy and Rooney adding to his tally with a fine piece of goal poaching. The Irishman was very sharp in sticking out a boot to deflect Picken's wayward effort into the Macc net, wrong-footing keeper Lee in the process. Again, however, our Cheshire neighbours fought back strongly and after good efforts by Bastians and Rooney, Roche saved splendidly from Wiles. Shortly after Leven limped off injured on 69 minutes, the visitors equalised through Green, finishing with aplomb with a low right footer giving Roche no chance. Both teams went for a winner, but it didn't come and a draw was probably the right result, though Macc did look pretty impressive with their swift, neat interplay in midfield and attack, coupled with robust tackling at the back. Their endeavours were certainly better to see than the usual 10 men behind the ball that we've witnessed too often at Saltergate in recent times from visiting teams. Also of note was that they brought a telly star with them-BBC's "Life on Mars" actor Marshall Lancaster was spotted wandering along Cross Street after the game.
Next up was our eagerly awaited trip to Shrewsbury's New Meadow where Winter returned to the side in place of the injured Leven. Again, the ball was soon in the net, but this time we went behind as Hibbert scored after just 5 minutes. The first half continued in lively fashion with both teams attacking with purpose. The home side looked to use their aerial strength, particularly from set pieces, whilst we were looking to play in Lester and Rooney with a more measured ground-based approach. Just before the break, we were back on level terms as Rooney blasted in a low shot from the edge of the box as the home side failed to clear a corner effectively.
Four minutes after the resumption, Jamie Lowry put us ahead with his 3rd goal of the season-all away and all in different kits. Lester and Rooney work the opening well to set up the youngster who netted in confident fashion. After some nice, bright interplay, we eventually extended our lead on 64 minutes with a cheeky Lester penalty after the Sheffielder himself had been held in the box. Jamie Ward made a welcome return as sub after this as Bastians was replaced, but 4 minutes later our defence went to sleep as Hunt's angled free kick found the head of the unmarked Murdoch who reduced the deficit. Two minutes later, Winter was involved in a nasty clash and was replaced by O'Hare after a 6-minute stoppage. The Shropshire side then threw everything at us in the search for an equaliser and both teams started to get edgy and aggressive. We held on though, after what seemed an eternity, to claim a deserved 3 points and push us back to second in the table.
The following week saw the first visit of Dagenham and Redbridge to Saltergate where Jamie Winter had recovered sufficiently to take his place on the bench. Peter Leven replaced him in the side. Yet again, the game saw an early goal with Aaron Downes nutting in from Bastians' well-flighted corner after 8 minutes. For the rest of the half we played some excellent football with neat movement, often prompted by Lester dropping deep and astute balls from Leven. Despite the utter dominance, however, the second goal failed to materialise from a combination of poor shooting, fine keeping from Roberts and some desperate defending.
The second period started in similar fashion, though the visitors did start to probe a little. Sloppiness by Robertson let them in on 56 and Benson raced clear to round Roche and score with ease. After that, we had more of the ball, but started to look a little edgy in front of goal and could not find a way through. In the end we had to be thankful for Roche's excellent stop in a one-on-one near the end to prevent the Daggers gaining an unlikely away win. So, for the third home game on the trot we had failed to win. This was deeply frustrating after so much good work, especially in the first half.
Another first awaited us a week later as we had our debut at the excellent, if rather too big, Darlington Arena. The home side were without their usual strike force owing to injury and suspension and their keeper was injured in the warm-up and had to be replaced. Jamie Ward made a welcome return to the starting line-up replacing the unfortunate Adam Rooney. After a reasonable start, the game soon became rather scrappy as two well-matched sides cancelled each other out. The best move of the match saw Bastians' header hit the post on 39. Thereafter it was much endeavour but little guile from both teams and the final result of 0-0 was no surprise and probably the fair result. After the match came news of the FA Cup pairing with Tranmere at home, so we need to start planning what neutral game to take in on second round day. We've played the Prenton Park outfit 3 times in the FA Cup since I've been watching Town and lost each time, so don't expect an upset.
Off the field we had news of Bastians extending his loan from Forest for another month whilst Gaz Davies ended his loan stint at Stalybridge, having played 5 games and achieved match fitness. The unlucky Nicky Travis returned to Bramall Lane after picking up a further injury during his brief Saltergate debut against Macclesfield.
So it only remains to name the man-of-the-month for October-a month where we were unbeaten, though not without its frustrations. Derek Niven was his usual energetic self, whilst Barry Roche again looked confident and pulled off some fine saves. Lester and Rooney scored 7 goals between them without ever quite looking the complete pairing whilst youngsters Lowry and Bastians continue to improve.
John's man of the month Peter Leven
The defence isn't yet in contention as too many individual errors are spoiling the show at the moment. Peter Leven , therefore, gets the nod and he's looked a class act in patches, especially at Wrexham, where he was awesome; to use the much overworked word. Oh, I nearly forgot, I left you with this interesting question last month: "when was the last time we went a whole month wearing only our home kit in every game?" I've not exactly been inundated with suggestions or requests for the answer, but it is April 2004, though technically that's not correct as the VK sponsorship appeared on the shirts away from home. I'll reveal the technically correct answer next month.
