Tom Denton put Chesterfield in the lead from the penalty spot but two Hartlepool goals in five minutes and a straight red for Scott Boden meant Chesterfield’s 2-1, opening day defeat was one that Chesterfield fans would rather forget.
The Spireites started the first half brightly and had a couple of corners in the opening minutes- the second one, which was swung in by David Buchanan flew just over the crossbar.
Chesterfield looked dangerous a couple of times in the first half an hour.
Firstly, in the 12th minute when Denton provided a teasing, low cross for Boden which he nearly latched onto.
And in the 30th minute when Denton nodded the ball down to Jonathon Smith who was in a dangerous position, but the midfielder soon became surrounded by Pools’ defenders and couldn’t manage to get a shot away.
A few minutes later Nicky Featherstone tried his luck at the other end but saw his effort deflect narrowly wide for a corner.
Just before half time Laurence Maguire did well to get in front of a dangerous Hartlepool ball and head it back to Kyle Letheren in the Spireites’ goal to keep proceedings level going into the break.
The Spireites managed to soak up lots of pressure from the away side in the opening minutes of the second half.
In the 53rd minute Chesterfield took the lead from the penalty spot when Denton sent Ben Killip the wrong way. Man in the middle Steven Copeland did not hesitate to point to the spot when there was a clear handball inside the area.
John Pemberton was forced to make his first substitution on the hour mark when Liam Mandeville replaced the injured Curtis Weston
Meanwhile Hartlepool went hunting for an equaliser and found one in the 64th minute.
David Ferguson was causing all sorts of problems for Chesterfield down the left hand side and it was him who created the equaliser. The left back crossed a low ball into the box which hit Will Evans’ outstretched leg and deflected into his own net.
Five minutes later Pools’ took the lead when Ferguson’s cross found Ryan Johnson who turned home at the near post.
In the 78th minute Boden saw red. The striker collided with Pools’ ‘keeper Killip and was shown a straight red for violent conduct.
Chesterfield offered little in terms of finding an equaliser in the closing stages of the game and will now look to bounce back on Saturday at home to Woking.
Spireites: Letheren, Cropper, Yarney, Evans, Maguire (Rawson 80’), Buchanan, Smith, Weston (Mandeville 59’), Butterfield, Boden, Denton (Rowley 84’)
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