Chesterfield beat Maidenhead United 1-0 with substitute Akwasi Asante’s second half strike the pivotal goal in the tie. There was doubts as to whether it was going to come, but it took something rather special to do so, with the forward’s strike far to powerful for the keeper to save.
It was a game that Chesterfield certainly couldn’t afford to lose, so there was a lot at stake right from the off.
There was a nervy feel around the place, and Maidenhead came out battling, and the first real chance of the game fell to the visitors, and Scott Loach denied Shawn McCoulsky after he managed to get in behind the Spireites defence.
The hosts done well to eventually get an effort away against the strong and compact Magpies defence, and the first chance of the game that was close came from Joe Quigley who saw a curling effort from outside the box just fly over the post.
Quigley got himself into the game pretty quickly, and continued to cause the Maidenhead defence problems, the 6’6 striker was dropping slightly deeper, holding the ball and making plays from there.
It was great to see, considering that he hasn’t had the most fruitful time in a blue shirt up until the last couple of weeks where he has been played on his own up front.
After 45 minutes, it was all square, with neither side really having a clear cut chance, there was lots to play for after the break.
The second half was always going to be massive considering scores elsewhere, and the Spireites came out the better side again.
They seen a lot of the ball and had a couple of great efforts which were well saved by the Maidenhead ‘keeper. First it was Saidou Khan’s effort which was saved well, before another Quigley effort from outside the box was well saved.
The Spireites attacked again shortly after, with Alex Whittle’s powerful left footed effort being well saved by the Mags’ goalkeeper.
Paul Cook’s side continued to pile on the pressure and eventually the Maidenhead defence was breached! It took 76 minutes for the hosts to take the lead, and what a terrific goal it was.
Substitute Akwasi Asante came on and it only took him 13 minutes to make an impact. He received the ball in the box and somehow squeezed his shot into the near post, it was a fantastic goal by the 29-year-old.
There was certainly some nerves from blue shirts after the goal went in, but the crowd was loud and proud throughout, and played a huge part in getting the Spireites over the line.
Cook’s men were eventually over, and the roar from the stands was something else, they’d overcome that late Maidenhead push to put pressure on Stockport County in first place.
Yorumlar