Report by North Derbyshire Radio Senior Football Correspondent Ben Smith
Michael Jacobs was the man of the moment for Chesterfield, coming off the bench to score the only goal in a 1-0 win away at Barrow.
Saturday’s meeting was one of two teams in more than reasonable form, with the hosts arriving on a run of five League Two matches without defeat, whilst the Spireites extended their own unbeaten stretch to four games with a 0-0 draw at home against Harrogate Town last time out.
And the first half of this one provided decent reason to believe another goalless offering could be on the cards, with the only real moment of note coming as Aaron Pressley burst in behind, only for a heavy touch to allow visiting ‘keeper Ryan Boot to come out and smother his eventual effort.
When things resumed after the break, the Bluebirds again registered the first significant moment as Tyler Smith was able to get a shot away, albeit a relatively tame one that Boot was able to claim comfortably.
The 368 travelling supporters who made the journey from Derbyshire to Cumbria, meanwhile, were given very little to cheer in the opening hour of the contest, with a speculative long-range effort from Jenson Metcalfe about as much as their initial line-up could muster.
That attacking inactivity prompted boss Paul Cook to take the rather radical action of a quadruple substitution, as Jacobs, Michael Olakigbe, Dylan Duffy and Will Grigg all entered the game on 70 minutes.
It was a sweeping change that would yield the ultimate reward just eight minutes later, as the former of that quartet worked the room to fire one with the outside of his foot, with the ball then sent definitively goal-bound by an outstretched defensive leg.
Such a quiet game was always likely to be decided by the odd-goal (if any) and so it proved as the away side were able to successfully see out the closing minutes of the match.
Attention for Chesterfield now turns to Tuesday night, where they will look to overcome a second successive Cumbrian opponent as relegation-threatened Carlisle United make the trip to the SMH Group Stadium.
