Report by North Derbyshire Radio’s Ben Smith
Chesterfield made it three League Two victories on the spin on Boxing Day, beating Notts County 2-0 at the SMH Group Stadium.
Lee Bonis continued his fine personal form with his ninth goal since the start of November to open the scoring before an own goal from Notts stopper Kelle Roos added further daylight between the two sides.
The Spireites came into this festive clash boosted by back-to-back wins, having beaten Barnet 3-1 in their last home fixture before seeing off Shrewsbury Town 1-0 on the road last time out.
Those triumphs marked their first in succession in the league since August, a timely platform ahead of a run of four games in nine days beginning here.
Where the three points would ultimately end up in this one remained very much an unknown after 45 minutes, with speculative long-range efforts from Tom Naylor and Ronan Darcy constituting the only real opportunities within the opening half.
Paul Cook’s side had probably edged things in terms of the quality of their football during that period, and would find reward for their play on 65 minutes when Devan Tanton’s low cross found a way through the County defence and to the feet of Darcy.
His initial effort was saved but only straight into the path of Bonis, who fired high into the goal to finally break the deadlock.
But having waited so long for that breakthrough it would be just 11 minutes before the home advantage was doubled as Liam Mandeville’s corner caused chaos at the near post and eventually found its way in via a touch from Roos.
Late drama has tended to be the order of the day between these two, perhaps most notably during the 2023 National League Promotion Final, so it likely came as some relief to Cook and Co. when they were able to see out the time which remained with relative comfort.
Chesterfield will now look to make it consecutive win number four as they make a swift return to action on Monday evening, when they’re at home again to take on Cambridge United.
