Report by North Derbyshire Radio’s Ben Smith.
Chesterfield marked their final home game before Christmas with a 3-1 victory over Barnet in Saturday’s League Two meeting.
A first half Lee Bonis brace established a cushion which Liam Mandeville would restore late on, but not before a significant spell of Bees pressure prompted by a goal from Mark Shelton.
The Spireites returned to the SMH Group Stadium having salvaged a stoppage time point at Cambridge United in midweek, a result which saw their winless run in all competitions grow to five matches.
Their last two outings on home soil, meanwhile, had both ended in 2-1 defeats, to Swindon Town in the league and Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup respectively.
Paul Cook and Co. would be warmly receiving of some seasonal cheer, then, and saw their spirits lifted just 11 minutes in, with Bonis forcing home to open the scoring after his initial effort had been saved.
The Northern Irish striker was a near-constant threat throughout the first 45 and would add his second seven minutes before the break, arriving to meet Dylan Duffy’s wicked cross with a well-directed header.
But that advantage wouldn’t make it to the interval intact, with Shelton this time nodding in to almost immediately halve the deficit for the visitors.
That sparked a bit of an untidy spell from the home side and one which would spill over once play resumed, with both ‘keeper Zach Hemming and the bottom of his post coming to their aid shortly after the restart.
Those early stages set the tone for much of the direction of travel in the second half, but it would be at the other end where the game’s fourth and final goal eventually came, with Mandeville lashing into the bottom corner to settle plenty of long-jangling nerves.
Having returned to winning ways Chesterfield will hope to string together a positive run over the festive period, beginning with a trip to Shrewsbury Town next weekend.
