A Caleb Folan double and a Shaw goal condemned Brentford to defeat at Saltergate this afternoon. Chesterfield kept the same starting eleven that saw off Manchester City in midweek.

The Bees matched their hosts for the opening phase of the game and might have fashioned a chance on 5 when a weak Hazell header was taken across the box, but Allott was fouled and the danger diminished. Chesterfield showed little up front until Shaw looked well-placed to score on 9 but a Brentford defender muscled him out of the ball's path and cleared.

The offside flag confounded Hurst on a couple of occasions but he beat it at the third attempt and cut inside after receiving a good cross-field pass from Niven. The winger's shot from the edge of the box flashed wide. Willock got up alone at the near post but Hazell was enough of a physical presence to force him to head wide.

The game began to turn towards the Spireites after twenty minutes or so. Brentford are a competitive outfit and the midfield battles had to be won first; with the middle of the park established as Chesterfield territory, the forwards could be supplied with ammunition. Hurst became increasingly influential.

Chesterfield took the lead on the half hour. A ball down the right-hand channel looked to be Haywood's, but Folan came from nowhere and nipped it around him on the outside. He took it on with pace and cut in towards goal, on the tightest of angles. The keeper came, but FOLAN confidently waited for the right moment before slotting it past Nelson and into the net.

Hurst was fouled on the edge of the box on 34 but Allott's powerful shot struck the wall, but the lead was extended two minutes later. A cross from the right was blocked out as far as Niven, who rifled a shot back in from the corner of the box. The keeper did well to block but couldn't hold the ball; it came out to SHAW, who gleefully belted it home from around six yards.

A minute later Hurst received the ball near the halfway line and spotted the keeper wandering; his attempted lob drifted 18 yards wide, but drew applause for its imagination.

Chesterfield netted a third goal on 39. Hurst was fed and got away wide on the right; his cross looked set to be converted by Shaw but, again, a Brentford man knocked him off the ball. It came to Hall, on the other side; he looked up and found FOLAN in space, and Hall's cross left him with a simple tap-in.

Brentford came back as the half closed and forced a fine save from Roche. The ball was cleared from the corner as far as Pinault, whose poor shot managed to pinball through the Spireites defence to Griffiths, who shot home from close range.

Larkin came on for Shaw at half-time and Allison replaced Folan after only six minutes of the second half. To begin with it didn't trouble Chesterfield greatly, and Larkin latched onto a deflection to stroke the ball home, but the linesman's flag disallowed the goal. As the half developed, though, Chesterfield became less effective up front and that allowed the visitors to apply pressure of their own. By and large, though, the defence held firm, aided by a Brentford approach that lacked variety.

Chesterfield's keen-eyed fans had two lusty shouts for a penalty for hands turned down by a ref who began to confuse everyone a little, after a steady first half. Peters replaced Brooker on the hour. Downes headed a Chesterfield corner back across the box but Nelson got in just before Allott, and Downes got up well to a Hurst free kick but headed wide, on 70.

There were nervy moments in the Spireite rearguard; Roche came, got nowhere and ran back again on 75 but Downes was there to head far enough away. Charles replaced Tomlin on 80.

Despite some cagey defending by the home side, Chesterfield were never really troubled and were helped by a "bitty" quality to the game that prevented both sides from putting together moves of purpose and penetration. At 3-1 up, of course, this worked to Chesterfield's benefit.

Griffiths was booked for a foul on Larkin on 81 as the Irishman went past him by the Pop Side. Hurst found The Chief on the break and he fed Larkin; Colin went past one but found Griffiths in the way before he could shoot. The Chief headed uncharacteristically wide with a free header from Hall's cross. As the game was closed out Janos Kovacs got a rare outing, rarer still for the fact that he came on up front for Colin Larkin.

The second half was poorer than the first; if both halves had been like the second, the fans might have left feeling deprived of any spectacle. Thankfully Chesterfield were able to capitalise on their dominant first-half spell through an increasingly confident-looking Folan. My man of the match, though, was Downes, who showed good positional sense and authority throughout. Mostly, I was happy that, after the fantastic high of Wednesday night, we still found enough to mop up the points in the following League game and climb back into the top half of the table.