Exeter City v Chesterfield FC Report
Chesterfield claimed all three points against Exeter after a comfortable 2-0 victory at St James Park.
Ollie Banks’ header put the away side in front just after half-time before a calm finish from Marc Richards with 20 minutes to go put the result beyond any doubt.
Spireites boss Paul Cook made two changes from last Saturday’s 2-0 win at home to Plymouth, with both Matthew Brown and Armand Gnanduillet dropping to the bench for Banks and Callum McFadzean to take their places.
In the opening moments, Artur Krysiak parried away a driven cross from Tendayi Darikwa. David Wheeler then fired over the crossbar from the edge of the area.
Richards took the ball down with his chest and forced a strong diving save from Krysiak. Arron Davies’ low shot deflected off of visiting captain Ian Evatt and into the arms of Tommy Lee.
Another attempt at goal from Wheeler sailed dismally wide of the post. Liam Sercombe put the ball into the stands on the half-volley when he should have hit the target.
Ritchie Humphreys fired a shot from a difficult angle that never worried Krysiak. On the stroke of half-time, Darikwa volleyed against a Grecian defender and the home side eventually cleared the danger.
Three minutes after the restart, Chesterfield took the lead. A McFadzean corner was met by Banks, who’s header was judged to have crossed the line.
A lofted ball into the visitors’ area was worryingly turned behind and over the crossbar by Banks. On 56 minutes, Sam Parkin was replaced by Alan Gow.
Darikwa’s cross found Richards inside the area, but the striker headed straight at Kyrsiak when he had the whole of the goal to aim for. On 59 minutes, Armand Gnanduillet took to the field in place of McFadzean.
Tom Nichols broke free of the Spireites’ defence, although the linesman’s flag was already raised for off-side. With just over 20 minutes to go, Exeter made a double substitution. Jordan Moore-Taylor was replaced by Pat Baldwin and Wheeler was removed for Matt Grimes to enter the field of play.
On 70 minutes, the away side doubled their lead. Richards received the ball inside the area, beat his man and finished low under Krysiak. Four minutes later, defender Brown took the place of Richards.
Sercombe’s awkward cross was tipped behind by Lee. Sercombe was involved once again after he put the ball wide of the post from close range.
Krysiak fluffed a clearance but Gnanduillet failed to capitalise and the hosts’ defence cleared the danger. With six minutes of normal time to be played, Jay O’Shea replaced Doyle.
It was then announced that there would be three minutes of additional time. With seconds of time added on remaining, Chesterfield’s Gnanduillet and Exeter’s Danny Butterfield were both awarded a yellow card for unsporting behaviour.
