Sheffield F.C vs Chesterfield Match Report 7/7/18

The Spireites started pre season with a win after goals from Carter, Weston, Ugwu and Rowley (2) gave town a 5-1 win over Sheffield FC.

Town fielded a strong team, which featured five of Martin Allen’s new signings. Chesterfields’ latest signing Charlie Carter was always a threat down the right hand side, demonstrating a perfect blend of pace, trickery and strength. Another notable performance came from Zavon Hines, who looked revitalised as a supporting striker. Hines made several menacing runs with the ball, and it was his deflected cross from which the first goal came, with the aforementioned Charlie Carter getting on the end of it to fire home for the first time as a Spireite. Other first half chances came in the form of George Smith, who had a decent header saved, and Brad Barry, who had a powerful strike blocked. Town did double their lead just before half time through another new boy, this time central midfielder Curtis Weston, who connected with a Gozie Ugwu cutback to make it 2-0 in the 42^nd minute.

Half time saw Martin Allen make two changes, with Joe Anyon and Sam Wedgebury replacing Shwan Jalal and Robbie Weir.

And it didn’t take long before Chesterfield scored again, as Town’s ‘colossal’ striker Gozie Ugwu scored from close range to make it three. As the game reached the hour mark further substitutions were made, with Jordan Sinnott, Joe Rowley, Charlie Wakefield, Sam Muggleton and Ify Ofuegbu replacing Curtis Weston, Charlie Carter, George Smith, Jerome Binnon-Williams and Brad Barry. A few minutes later Gozie Ugwu was replaced by young striker Luke Rawson.

It didn’t take long for the subs to make an impact, with Rawson, Rowley and Wakefield looking threatening. Rawson in particular impressed, as he put the ball in the net twice, only for both to be ruled offside. However there was no such problem as Rawson set up Joe Rowley twice for him to score Town’s fourth and fifth of the afternoon. Ten minutes from time, Sheffield’s Waide Fairhurst pulled one back as he slotted calmly past Joe Anyon to make it 5-1.

Overall it was a good performance for Martin Allen’s new look team, with fitness and application of tactics no doubt being the main focus of this match. My pick for man of the match would be Charlie Carter, as he remained a threat throughout his hour on the pitch, and opened the scoring for Town. Next up for the Spireites is Boston United next Saturday, where Town will hope to build on match fitness, and give players more game time in order to prove themselves to the new boss.