Millers 1 (Le Fondre 53) - 0 Chesterfield
This looked to be a fixture between two clubs whose squads look strong enough to be in the promotion hunt come May. It also promised to offer a genuine measure of the quality of both team's results so far. Both teams had had similar fixtures and results to date, beating Hereford , Cheltenham and Barnet and drawing at Morecambe.
Both teams were unchanged from last Saturday's victories. In broad terms, both adopted a 4-4-2 formation, but neither were entirely rigid.
Chesterfield employed Talbot as an orthodox winger on the right, but allowed Dean Morgan licence to cut infield from the left flank, to support Davies and Lester. The Millers were more flexible still, Law having licence to drift inside to link play and Le Fondre dropping off from the forward line, to create a 4-2-3-1 formation when Chesterfield had the ball.
With both Morgan, Davies and Talbot all being quick, the Millers adopted a deliberate policy of dropping deep quickly as soon as they lost the ball and only challenging for possession once Chesterfield were 15 yards into the Millers' half. With Taylor and Harrison patrolling 10 yards or so in front of the defence, Lester had no space to drop into and turn in, forcing him to play tight against Geohaghan. With Law and Ellison diligent in supporting the full-backs, neither Talbot nor Morgan could get behind the Millers back line.
As a result, after a scrappy start, much of Chesterfield's attacks were long balls from defence or centre-field, looking to stretch the Millers by releasing Davies on a chase to the corner. It had some success, with Cresswell conceding corners from intercepting through balls under pressure, but it the main, Chesterfield's attacks resulted in shots from outside the area which did little to trouble Warrington.
Key to the Millers success in the first half was Nicky Law. Committed in supporting his full-back, he was energetic and willing in midfield, pulling the Chesterfield left-back out of position, creating space for Le Fondre and Pope to run into and drawing central midfielders into defensive areas, opening space for runners from deep. As a consequence, Le Fondre appeared more often than usual in wide areas, in the role of prompter and provider instead of finisher. Harrison, nearly profited, when the Chesterfield defence failed to pick up his run into the penalty area, but his jump to meet Le Fondre's cross was mistimed and the ball squirmed awkwardly wide of his shoulder. It was noticeable that Chesterfield's most fluent period of the first half came after Law was injured in a challenge with Chesterfield's keeper, Lee.
The other critical element of the Miller's performance was the simple recycling of possession by Harrison and Taylor. Allowed to sit deep - and so able to attack runners coming on them rather than chasing back - they were able to pick off possession and play it simply. Neat one touch passing exchanges with the central defenders opened up the angles to release Law and Ellison or find the feet of Le Fondre or Pope.
Ironically, the best chance of the half fell to Chesterfield, when Lester a sloppy Taylor pass allowed a quick prod forward, which Lester, sharp on the turn, was on to away. Warrington's block was proficient, but Lester's effort was neither placed, powered or deft enough to beat him.
In an attempt to alter the balance of the game, Chesterfield brought Niven, a combative, tenacious central midfielder, on for Allott. Niven's role was to ruffle Pope in possession and pick up Le Fondre when he dropped deep, to allow the defenders to keep their shape better.
Although they succeeded in stifling Pope, Niven's deeper-lying role allowed gave Ellison and Law more room to come inside and for the full-backs to overlap. From this combination, a Mullins through ball found Le Fondre who had pulled wide on the edge of the area. Taking the ball on the half turn, Le Fondre drove towards the by-line, opening up an angle for a cross. With tremendous technique, he chipped the ball over Lee and into the goal at the far post, where Ellison was available to head in if needed.
Chesterfield responded positively. Mattis pushed forward and Niven gave up his purely defensive role, operating as a more orthodox central midfield pairing.
However, it was the replacement of Lester with Gray that evened the game up as a contest. With Lester out of the attack, Chestefield were able to utilise the pace of both Davies and Morgan through the centre. Taylor and Harrison dropped deeper, to compress the opportunities for the through ball. This gave Gray, a tall, athletic player, with technique, care and vision, to use the ball and prompt attacks.
With the sun low in the sky and in the eyes of the Millers defence, players headed up instead of out and the midfield and defence became too close to one another. Morgan picked up the ball from the edge of the area, drilled in a shot, which Warrington saw late and did tremendously well to push wide. That followed an equally good save from a strong Davies shot which came in after Mullins and Law failed to block a Whittaker cut back.
As the game moved into its final phase, Pope visibly tired, but his physical presence was important. To inject energy in the last few minutes, Bradley replaced Harrison. Bradley is a taller, stronger player and more willing to chase the ball outside of the centre of the field and his extra energy allowed the Millers to get a foothold higher up the pitch. In the end, Pope (in particular), Law and Ellison were able to hold the ball in the corner long enough to see out the four added minutes of time.
In the end, Le Fondre's audacity and ability won the game, but Moore's decision to employ deep lying central midfielders and to cede possession until the ball was in the Millers' half negated the key attacking weapons of Chesterfield. Chesterfield are a strong team and certainly the best seen at DVS this season but, in truth, only Gray's introduction threatened to turn the balance of the game. But by then the Millers had a lead to defend and their tenacity and determination in holding on to it suggests that their promotion aspirations are genuine and credible this season.
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