A Review by John Taylor

Last month's review ended with "So, to Rochdale and a juicy away win please!" and that is precisely how the month of March started. We had an unchanged side for the short trip to Spotland on a cool, miserable day in what was a real play-off race 6-pointer. The game proved to be somewhat scrappy in difficult conditions with Dale having the better of the first half and Town the better of the second. Both sides wasted decent opportunities with Jack Lester uncharacteristically profligate. The key moment arrived with just a minute to go as substitute Ward was fouled just outside the Dale box. Ward, Winter and Leven stood around the ball in seeming uncertain fashion whilst Dale constructed a defensive wall. Leven appeared about to take the kick but hesitated as Ward wandered off on a stroll. The Scot then stepped up and whacked the ball along the ground into the corner of Spencer's goal as the wall crumbled in disarray. Red clad Spireites then sprinted diagonally across the pitch to celebrate in front of the considerable away following in what was a welcome display of real togetherness. The remaining minute plus 3 extra were weathered with relative ease for a juicy away win indeed!

Capt Pete on target at Spotland

Next on the list was a rare Friday night match at home-this time v Lincoln to accommodate the following Monday's televised game v MK Dons. The timing seemed to suit us as it did back in September with Bury. The game started with a good run by Lester, which ended with an effort over the bar and as the first half progressed, we became more and more imposing. It wasn't until 6 minutes before the break, however, that our pressure told as a fine move led to Lowry setting up Kerry for his first league goal. Seven minutes beyond the interval, Lester added to the lead with another piece of class finishing, but the Imps soon reduced the deficit after an inexplicable lapse by young Kerry. He allowed a left wing cross to elude him, thus wrong-footing Kovacs and Wright stabbed the ball home from a few feet out. Barry Roche had no chance. Home fans were worried at this point, given some of the collapses of earlier in the season, but Town responded in the best possible fashion with a wonderfully worked goal from skipper Leven within a minute. Kerry netted his second with 10 minutes remaining to send the home fans away in buoyant mood. What a fine start to the weekend!

Monday night's televised affair against table-topping MK was an entirely different affair. We were again unchanged but struggled in difficult conditions with the strong wind. MK were little better in the first half but went in 1 up as a Downes error presented Andrews with a simple goal. Bookings to Hartley and Kerry midway through the half seemed to give a certain hesitancy to the youngsters, which didn't help our cause either. The second period saw the visitors look more assured than us, especially after the introduction of Wilbraham on 65 minutes. We brought on Fletcher, however, for Winter soon afterwards and that produced a brief flurry leading to an unexpected but excellent equaliser from Jamie Lowry. The TV Times had the Cornishman as the "one to watch" and the publication was certainly correct. Unfortunately our defence failed to watch Wilbraham and Dyer straight from the restart as the visitors went straight up the pitch and restored their lead. After this we never looked like getting anything from the game and the Dons' strong and pacy team looked appreciably better than us. This was so different from the reverse fixture when we beat them with a degree of comfort.

Jamie Lowry levelled things briefly against MK Dons

Saturday brought the short trip to our favourite away venue, Millmoor, but this time it was to be very different from the norm. Ward and Fletcher started this one in place of Dowson and Winter whilst the home side had former Spireites Hudson and Holmes in their ranks again. The game began in a flurry of activity and after 3 minutes, Lester had a glorious chance to open the scoring but blazed his effort over the bar. Thereafter we looked lacklustre at best and a less-than-confident Millers outfit started to look more threatening. Just before the half hour, Rotherham took the lead as Peter Holmes' 20-yard free kick curled into the top corner. A minute before half time, Joseph extended the lead with a fine finish after a poor clearance attempt by Phil Picken. The mood on the away end at half time ranged from glum to angry and the players and management certainly received some none-too-complimentary comments as they trooped off the pitch.

The home team started the second period brightly and we were struggling to contain them, though a combination of dogged defending and tentative shooting meant we didn't concede again. The game was scrappy and disjointed but we gave ourselves a chance with a quarter of an hour left as Jamie Ward netted after chesting the ball down. We lacked any real conviction or guile, however, and the home side saw out the game in relative comfort for their first league win against us on their patch since 1979 and their first double since 1928-29 (their only other one, in fact).

A week later, we hosted Accrington Stanley for the first time since Boxing Day 1959. The team saw a surprise return for Gregor Robertson at Steve Fletcher's expense and for Derek Niven, in for Lloyd Kerry. The visitors seemed to set up to play a caution game and try to catch us on the break and we duly dominated the first 20 minutes without exhibiting any real confidence. Kovacs had the ball in the net on 19 minutes after a corner, but someone was adjudged to have fouled. Three minutes later, Stanley were ahead following a mistake by Hartley when Proctor scored after the ball came back off the bar. The home crowd were stunned. Seven minutes later, the stunned feeling turned to anger as the visitors went 2 up straight from a Town corner. The ball was cleared and the Lancastrians broke quickly with Whalley chasing the ball into the Town box. Roche came out to meet him and appeared to pull out of a challenge, but the Stanley man went down and a penalty resulted. Proctor did the business again for his 3^rd goal against us this season. Fortunately, the fans anger was swiftly quelled as Derek Niven reduced the deficit within 2 minutes, netting a cracker from just outside the box. You could see the belief flow back into the team and Accrington soon lost their composure. Craney and Picken were booked for scuffling nonsense straight after the goal and Harris and Arthur soon followed. The referee was clearly not having any stupidity and the Stanley bench was not happy at the turn of events. From a Town corner, we suffered a blow as a stray arm caught Lester in the face and the striker's nose was badly smashed. Dowson replaced him with a minute of the half left.

Jamie Lowry completed the come back 3-2 Spireites

The second half started with Town pressing, but the turning point was the replacement of Robertson by Fletcher 12 minutes in. The big man causing panic in the visitors' defence from a long throw, resulting in Roberts heading into his own net for the equaliser. 22 seconds later we were ahead as Lowry showed striking instincts to score after good work from Dowson. Town fans were buzzing with enthusiasm now. Stanley really lost it after this and seemed to be committing daft fouls and getting bookings galore. Manager John Coleman was even banished to the stand and sat sulking on the steps. A steward, rather amusingly, moved him on, presumably on health and safety grounds. It appeared not to improve the manager's mood. Ward wrapped the thing up with a well-taken goal with 5 minutes to go and we all breathed a sigh of relief. According to official statistics, Stanley brought a mere 88 fans to Saltergate-a number that doesn't bode well for their continued league existence.

At the other end of the scale, we went to Bradford City on Easter Monday for a fixture attracting over 13,000 punters. Town were clad in yet another different combination, this time opting for red shirts, white shorts and black socks. In cold, blustery conditions, we started the stronger, but City took the lead on 15 minutes as Starosa found acres of room on our left and crossed for Thorne to head home from the penalty spot. The game then degenerated somewhat and only in the last 20 minutes did we really come to life. Substitute Adam Smith poked an effort over from 3 yards when it looked easier to score, Dowson and Winter forced Loach to make excellent saves and Kerry smacked a shot inches wide of the post. Predictably, we lost 1-0 and City keeper Loach endeared himself to us not one bit with his mocking and insulting gestures to the away following at the final whistle. It was uncalled for and unprovoked. Behaviour like that continues to get the game a bad name.

Prior to our final game of the month at Dagenham and Redbridge's Victoria Road ground, Mr Richardson was clearly a busy boy, acquiring the services of Colin Hawkins from Coventry, Graeme Owens from Middlesbrough and Bruce Dyer, lately of Doncaster. Hawkins made it into the team at Kovacs' expense, as a booking for the Hungarian would mean a suspension. One game later and the punishment goes away. Owens and Dyer made the bench. There was an air of confidence about the travelling Spireites and this was justified as the home side looked considerably off the pace. Any attacks they mounted were well repulsed by a rearguard well marshalled by the effective Hawkins. In midfield, Lowry prompted well and Dowson was always a threat in attack. Surprisingly, it took until 39 minutes to score as the busy Ward netted after good work on the right by Lowry. Within seconds on the restart, he'd doubled his tally as Roberts failed to hold his shot and the ball squirmed over the line. The Daggers then tried to rally and caused us some difficulties for a period. Roche dealt effectively with everything thrown at him and the defence, despite a few nervous moments, stood firm.  We wrapped the thing up nicely with 11 minutes left as Steve Fletcher rose to head in a long throw from Leven for his first goal for us against a team not from the northwest. We trooped northwards very satisfied with this result, despite the home side being poor, but as they say "you can only beat what's put up against you".

Off the pitch, the month was characterised by lots of loan movements and extensions with Hartley, Dowson and Kerry secured to the end of the season. Michael Jordan made a low-key exit early in the month after just 1 appearance this season to be replaced by Blades loanee Jamie Annerson. The key question is "can we make the play-offs?" Well, we finished the month in the last spot, but with Rochdale a point behind and 3 games in hand it will be tough, though not impossible. We probably need to win 4 of our last 5 games and hope the Dale blow it. It would be helpful if everyone was on the same side, but there were distinct signs of tension between fans, players and management during the month. The sarcastic jeering of Barry Roche is unpleasant and caused the big Irishman to react uncharacteristically at Rotherham, by gesturing at Town fans. Mr Richardson was right to point out that getting at Roche in this fashion is counter-productive, but he could also recognise that in other ways the fans feel very frustrated by what they see as decent players appearing at times not to give of their best. Roche does not fall into this category, by the way. Some bridge building would be very useful, but if we do make the play-offs it will probably all be forgotten.

Janos Johns man of the month

So, who gets the man-of-the-month nod in the 7 game up and down month? We had some decent contributions from Kerry, Lowry and Ward with a good late run from the energetic Dowson, but for steady consistency and a robust and entertaining approach, the popular Janos "the animal" Kovacs just gets the vote.