Third-place Fleetwood Town face back-to-back away games in the next five days, beginning at Chesterfield on Tuesday evening.
By David MitchellThird-place Fleetwood Town face back-to-back away games in the next five days, beginning at Chesterfield on Tuesday evening.
Town have travelled well so far with just a single defeat on the road, at Bradford City, some two months ago. In addition, a total of three goals conceded away from home represents the joint best in the league, alongside Gillingham.
Town manager, Micky Mellon, is anticipating another tough encounter:
‘It will be another challenge at a fantastic venue. Our away form has been good but we mustn’t be complacent and aim to keep picking up points in every game we play.’
Despite being held to a 1-1 draw at home by Wimbledon on Saturday, the point gained took Town back into the automatic promotion places:
‘That was a positive to come out of Saturday,’ said Mellon, ‘We’ve been working hard to improve our passing game in training and are really looking forward to the next game.’
Fleetwood Town’s five changes against AFC Wimbledon, comfortably the most for a league game this season, reflects the growing injury list at Highbury with Damien Johnson’s hamstring, which forced him off at half time against the Dons, an added cause for concern. Mellon acknowledges that the best hope out of the players missing on Saturday lies with midfielder, Alex Marrow, who is recovering from a calf problem. Johnson therefore joins Shaun Beeley, Steve McNulty, and Andy Mangan as unavailable. In addition, striker Jon Parkin missed Saturday’s game for family reasons and his situation is being monitored. On the positive side, Junior Brown is set to make his 50th appearance for the club.
The Spireites return to the Proact Stadium after a 1-0 victory at Exeter on Saturday, a result which will boost caretaker manager Tommy Wright’s chances of securing the job on a permanent basis:
‘I thought we played well and deserved the win,’ said Wright in an interview with the Football League Paper, ’Everyone keeps asking me if I am getting the job full-time and the honest answer is I really don’t know.’ Wright took over after the dismissal of John Sheridan at the end of August.
Chesterfield currently lie thirteenth in the npower League 2 with four victories, two at home against Accrington and Wycombe in September. Saturday’s single goal victory came courtesy of Huddersfield loanee Chris Atkinson who has scored some important goals in recent games. With just one point covering nine clubs, Chesterfield will know that victory over Town could propel them into the play-off positions.
A high-profile recent addition to the Chesterfield squad is Luis Boa Morte. The ex-Arsenal and Fulham winger has played in the last two games but has yet to get on the score sheet. Despite only playing for the last thirteen minutes on Saturday, 37-year-old striker Jack Lester presents another threat in attack with six goals to his name so far. In the last few days Lester has been described on Twitter as ‘the Robinho of League Two’ by England cricketer and friend, Graeme Swann – high praise indeed for a player who has not played at the top level, although Lester modestly admits that the comment was probably made ‘tongue-in-cheek’!
Another striker, Marc Richards, is rated as 50-50 after almost a month out with an ankle injury while goalkeeper Tommy Lee has recovered from damaged shoulder ligaments and could be in contention for a place on the bench.
Having won the Football League Trophy in March, the Spireites were relegated back to League Two a month later after just one season in the higher division. They have been members of the Football League since 1921, rising to the second level twice in the 1930s. The traditional ground at Saltergate was replaced a couple of seasons ago by a new home, the Proact Stadium.
Please see this link for a very helpful guide to
Chesterfield.
The Central League Cup match at home to Morecambe this Wednesday afternoon has been postponed. A new date has yet to be arranged.