Match Report: Chesterfield A

The Bees travelled to Derbyshire for a rare Friday night fixture. Barnet faced 4th place Chesterfield at the Technique Stadium.

In front of 7,094 supporters, Dean Brennan named a team that had only one change. Rob Hall replaced the departing Ephron Mason-Clark.

Chesterfield kicked off and took the lead after just 87 seconds from a corner. The cross made it past the Bees defence and saw the hosts take the lead in the second minute.

As the game developed, Barnet had some good spells of possession. Probing balls were made into the box but were unsuccessful as Chesterfield defended well.

Okimo was called into action with 13 minutes on the clock. The hosts made a surging run into the box and crossed towards the front post. Okimo expertly chested the ball and cleared in one movement to prevent Chesterfield from scoring.

Sean Shields scored for The Bees in the 17th minute. The ball fell to him on the edge of the box and his powerfully hit shot flew into the back of the net. An expertly taken goal.

Joe Quigley had a chance for the Spireites after getting on the end of a King cross from the right-hand side, but his header was caught by Laurie Walker.

The Spireites took the lead for the second time in the 33^rd minute through Asante. The ball was parried back into the box by Walker and fell to the feet of Asante who fired into the net.

On the stroke of Half-Time, Kabamba went through on goal after a superb ball through the middle. His hard and low shot is kept out and The Bees trailed at the break.

Barnet started the better of the two sides. Ryan De Havilland found a long ball over the top and went through 1on1. Frustratingly, he was denied, and his effort is saved by the keeper.

On the 60th minute, the Chesterfield onslaught began. 9 minutes of sustained pressure, saw the Barnet defence tested repeatedly. Laurie Walker made a superb double save. Initially, Chesterfield passed the ball through the defence to go 1on1. Walker made an instinctive save up to his left to see the ball out for a corner. From the resulting corner, the ball was flicked on to force Walker to make another top save up to his right.

Chesterfield made it three in the 74th minute. Substitute Tshimanga ran onto a through ball down the left-hand side and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner.

Despite Barnet’s best efforts, Chesterfield held on to inflict Dean Brennan’s side to their first defeat of the season.

Barnet XI: 1. Laurie Walker; 21. Ben Wynter; 4. Danny Collinge; 6. Jerome Okimo; 23. Sam Beard; 8. Dale Gorman ©; 14. Harry Pritchard; 33. Ryan De Havilland; 7. Rob Hall (Moussa Diarra 71’); 9. Nicke Kabamba; 32. Sean Shields (Kian Flanagan 71’).

Unused Subs: 12. James Callan; 2. Jordan Thomas; 44. Michael Phillips; 18. Connor Smith.

Attendance: 7094 (129 away)