Six big talking points from Chesterfied's win at Oldham Athletic

Joe Quigley’s strike after just 34 seconds followed by Jeff King’s finish seven minutes later helped the Spireites stay top of the National League.

Let’s take a look at some of the big talking points from the game...

MISSING TRIO

This victory was made more impressive given that Armando Dobra, Akwasi Asante and Kabongo Tshimanga were all absent.

The trio have six goals and four assists between them so far this season so to win convincingly without them is a big plus and just shows the quality running throughout the squad.

It was not a big surprise to see Dobra (ankle) and Asante (thigh) miss this one, but the good news is that they are expected to be out for weeks rather than months. There was a lot of chatter before the game about whether Tshimanga would be included in the squad or not following his failed move to Birmingham City but, in the end, he was left out altogether and given time off, which was not a huge shock either.

WELCOME BACK

Injuries to Dobra and Asante presented rare opportunities to Jack Clarke and Calvin Miller and both gave a good account of themselves.

This was Clarke’s first start in 364 days since starting against Bromley last season. He got 65 minutes under his belt and did about as well as you could hope for after such a long time out. Spireites fans know all about his talent so hopefully he can stay fit now and show Paul Cook exactly what he is capable of.

Miller, who was put on the transfer list in the summer, was handed his first start of the season and did his chances of starting the next match no harm at all, grabbing an assist for the second goal in a lively 60-minute display, before coming off with cramp.

WHITE PELE

As we have mentioned in previous pieces, there were sarcastic cheers at times last season when Quigley was taken off. But the near 1,500 Town fans sang his name throughout the game on Saturday and they even have a song for him now comparing him to Pele!

The goal here was his first of the season and nobody deserved it more than him. He bullied the Oldham defence for the whole 90 minutes and on another day he could have had a hat-trick. His first strike of the campaign means the Blues now have eight different scorers already.

Tshimanga will return to training this week but it is hard to see him replacing Quigley as the lone striker at the moment so it will be interesting to see whether Kabs has to settle for a place on the bench or whether Town go with two up top or if they can find a different role for him in the side.

DEBUT

Tim Akinola, who signed on a season-long loan from Arsenal on Thursday, made his debut off the bench for the last 25 minutes. He is a defensive midfielder by trade but he played higher up and showed plenty of pace, energy and enthusiasm. Town were a bit light in terms of options in central midfield so his arrival boosts that area of the pitch. It’s not often a club of Arsenal’s size loan out one of their top talents to the National League so credit to Chesterfield for making it happen.

HOODOO

This was the Spireites’ first win in the league Boundary Park since a 2-1 victory in April 2000. Town have won there since in the JPT but had not a league success across the Pennines for 22 years.

KEEP GOING

This win kept the Spireites top and extended their unbeaten start to seven games. There are no easy matches but the upcoming fixtures look quite favourable with successive home clashes against Gateshead (19th), Southend United (13th), before travelling to Yeovil Town (20th) and then finishing the month back at the Technique against Maidstone United (12th)

TEAM

Covolan; King, Williams, Grimes, Horton; Oldaker (Gyasi, 82), Banks; Mandeville, Clarke (Akinola, 65), Miller (Uchegbulam, 60); Quigley. Unused subs: Maguire, Jones.