Two changes were made to the side that won at Stockport. One was enforced by the suspension of Nicholson, Innes coming in to left back, while N'Toya started in place of Folan.
Line-up:
MUGGLETON
BALIEY EVATT DOWNES INNES
ALLOTT FOWLER NIVEN HUDSON
DeBOLLA N'TOYA
Subs: Richmond (gk), Dawson, Davies, Folan, Blatherwick.
The opening 12 minutes saw most of the action in Peterborough's half. Good moves brought shots from DeBolla and N'Toya but there was a lack of thrust to Chesterfield's play that gave it the appearance of a friendly match. Peterborough didn't look up to much.
Posh's first foray into our half brought the opening goal. Downes was uncertain and allowed Purser past him: he crossed to give Logan a simple tap-in.Two minutes later, they were 2-0 up. The defence watched as the ball came in from a Woodhouse free kick. Purser got the final touch on the goal line, which must have raised suspicions of offside, but we lacked passion in even appealing for that.
Innes did well to cut the ball out on 15 and get forward; his ball to DeBolla was a good one but the forward was halted by a late and theatrically slow offside flag. Fowler went down - rather he sat down - near the dug-out on 19 and was led off looking dazed. Whatever had caused it necessitated his replacement by Davies on 20.
Gareth was on for only two minutes before becoming the eleventh Chesterfield sub to score this season. Innes took a free kick and Downes got up well to head goalwards; the keeper parried it away, and seemingly out of play, but DAVIES had other ideas and made it to the post to pull a goal back from a yard.
Chesterfield began to play some better stuff after this. DeBolla shot wide from 25 yards and put a free kick over and an Evatt header saw the keeper catch the ball and appear (to desperate homesters, at least) to carry the ball over.
Halftime: 2-1 to them.
Bouyed by the improvement as the first half concluded, the crowd expected Chesterfield to come out and turn Posh over. This was the team with the worst away record in the division, after all, and they had proved incapable this season of holding a lead, even if they were superglued to it. Two second half minutes put paid to that hope, though. Blatherwick came on for Downes at half time, while Posh brought on Boucaid for Legg.
Chesterfield began the half in a lacklustre fashion and lacked more lustre as the half wore on. Folan replaced N'toya on 56 after Tcham's passing radar packed up. Folan's run forced a corner on 60 and Woodhouse headed this six inches over his own bar without knowing a thing about it. On 62 Posh extended their lead when Purser chased a boot upfield, beat Blatherwick for pace and whacked it home. There was a strong claim for handball from the crowd, but the players didn't protest much, if at all.
Two minutes after that Chesterfield were reduced to ten men when Folan was sent off after an off the ball clash with Arber that was seen only by the linesman. In lasting eight minutes, Folan had more than doubled the contribution made by Shayne Bradley against Mansfield the other year, but it ruined any hope we had of getting back into it. The same lino called handball against DeBolla on 75 when he cleverly brought it down with his shoulder and looked likely to go on. Allott was played through with a one-on-one in the 81st minute but the keeper spread himself well to save.
More or less the only other excitement was caused by a Peterborough substitute - Peter Kennedy, I think - refusing to move from in front of the disabled enclosure while warming up. Silly chap. There was just time for DeBolla to threaten to get through before taking Arber's arm round his chops, for which the Posh man went unpunished.
Full time: 3-1 to them.
Fair play to Peterborough. That might have been their best performance of the season, but they were terrible for almost all of the game. That - and the fact that the result was not a travesty - says everything you need to know about us. Even at 2-1 down there looked only one likely winner - us - but our worst single 45 minutes of the season put paid to any hope the fans had of a recovery. All three central defenders were at crucial times at fault for poor defending; Hudson watched the game go by in midfield; Niven tried to be everywhere and was, consequently, ineffective. Tcham faded after a bright start and DeBolla tried throughout, but was shortchanged by poor supply lines. Bailey and Innes did ok at fullback, while Davies and Allott were ok in midfield. I had to pick a man of the match for Spireites World and, writing this three hours after the final whistle, I cannot for the life of me remember who I chose.
SB
