Spireites Defeat Aston Villa in Final Pre-season Friendly.

The Spireites claimed an impressive 3-1 victory against Aston Villa on Wednesday night, with Tendayi Darikwa, Sam Hird and Sam Morsy all getting on the scoresheet. The visitors did manage to grab a goal in the early stages of the second period courtesy of Jack Grealish’s close-range finish, but in the end it wasn’t enough to prevent a Chesterfield win.

With only seven minutes on the clock, the Spireites opened the scoring courtesy of Darikwa’s low finish under visiting goalkeeper Brad Guzan from close range. The assault on the Aston Villa goal continued with Hird’s effort from an awkward angle that was on this occasion palmed away by Guzan.

Callum Robinson’s speculative attempt at goal never worried Tommy Lee as the ball sailed high and wide of the crossbar. Ian Evatt blazed a re-bound wide of the target following a powerful Armand Gnanduillet header.

Robinson thought he’d equalised for the Villans with a headed effort only six yards from goal, but the linesman’s flag was already raised for off-side. Graham Burke’s forceful drive cannoned against the crossbar and away from danger.

On the stroke of half-time, Chesterfield doubled their advantage after Hird met a driven corner-kick from Gary Roberts before heading into the top right-hand corner of the net with the help of a deflection against Ritchie Humphreys.

Immediately after the re-start, Romuald Boco broke free of the visitors’ defence before firing straight at Guzan who gathered comfortably. Only five minutes had been played in the second period before the away side reduced the deficit, as Grealish smartly finished into an empty net after meeting a low pass across goal from Charles N’Zogbia.

A lull in proceedings followed, with possession being shared in the middle of the field between both sides. N’Zogbia took matters into his own hands with a curled effort from distance that just evaded the crossbar.

Impressive link-up play between Jimmy Ryan and Charlie Raglan culminated in a thunderous attempt from the former which crashed into the side-netting. With only seven minutes of normal time left to play, the Spireites netted their third and final goal of the evening due to a defensive lapse from Guzan, which Doyle capitalised on before feeding the ball to Morsy who fired straight into the roof of the net.