Spireites Defeated in Third Consecutive Fixture.

Chesterfield succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park on Tuesday night, with both Niall Canavan and Paddy Madden netting in the second period to confine the Spireites to their third consecutive defeat. 

Paul Cook made five changes from Saturday’s loss at home to Leyton Orient, as Sam Hird, Ashley Carter, Ritchie Humphreys, Gboly Ariyibi and Byron Harrison took the places of Ian Evatt, Charlie Raglan, Mark Duffy, Caolan Lavery and Armand Gnanduillet.

In the opening moments, Tom Hopper rose to meet a cross from the right-hand side and headed towards goal only to be denied by a magnificent clearance on the line by Carter. Madden picked up the ball on the edge of the area, then turned instantly before firing straight into the arms of a resolute Tommy Lee.

Waiting ten yards from goal, Ritchie Humphreys eventually received the ball from Jay O’Shea prior to unleashing a low effort that just skipped wide of the post. On the counter-attack, Madden was the centre of attention once more as the striker’s volley from 20 yards sailed narrowly wide with Lee no doubt aware of the threat posed by this particular individual. 

Ariyibi took matters into his own hands with a lone run forwards that led to a looping cross, which was met by O’Shea who struck first-time against the body of an opposing defender. On the stroke of half-time, Tendayi Darikwa advanced in a wide position then delivered to the head of Harrison who sent the ball high and ultimately wide of the target.

After the break, Hopper tried his luck with a shot from distance that landed straight in the arms of Lee. With 58 minutes on the clock, the home side broke the deadlock through Canavan’s strike from close range following several ricochets that came as a result of a driven corner-kick. 

Looking for an equaliser, Gnanduillet met a looping cross with his head and forced a low save by Daniels. Involved once again, Gnanduillet struck from range after receiving the ball from Lavery but failed to hit the target and Daniels readied himself for a goal-kick.

In the 85th minute, Madden sealed all three points for the Iron after taking advantage of a Daniel Jones mistake before firing past a helpless Lee in a one-on-one situation. For the full four minutes of additional time, neither side created any meaningful opportunities as the Spireites fell to their third consecutive defeat.