Spireites Take On Northampton At Home

The Spireites return to The Proact looking to get back to winning ways, having lost their last 2 games with defeats at Accrington Stanley and Wycombe. They have been boosted by the signing of Jay O'Shea, his loan finishing at Wycombe, but the Spireites signed him yesterday. They come up against a team in top form, Northampton have won their last 3 League games beating Aldershot 2-0, Dagenham 3-1 and Fleetwood 3-1. Although all 3 games were at home, their away record is won 2 drawn 4 and lost 5

Paul Cook told BBC Radio Sheffield: 'I think the fans will be pleased with the Jay O'Shea signing because he is a very special player. We need to attack the game in the right manner because the only way we are going to get where we want to be is by winning games.'

Aidy Boothroyd told BBC Three Counties Radio: 'They're a team that came down last year that we only managed to draw against 0-0 last time out. They've got players like Jack Lester, Marc Richards that are goal scorers. They've got a good goalkeeper in Tommy Lee and they've just signed a lad from Hull, Liam Cooper, who we think a lot of. But we've got good players in our team as well and it's just very very important for us to make sure that we get that result.'

Right Back Drew Talbot is out for a month with a toe injury. Be interesting to see who plays in that position, with Cook ruling out playing Forbes. Townsend still not available, serving his last match of his 3 match ban.

Jay O'Shea will be raring to go having just become a full-time Spireite having signed yesterday. He plays behind Richards in attack, he loves to run at defenders, blessed with speed and trickery and a good eye for goal, he will be looking to cause the Northampton defence a real headache.

Northampton have no new injury news, Emyr Huwa has returned to Man City after his loan spell. Defender David Atwell is back in training, John Jonnson is a few weeks away from full fitness.

Forward Akinfenwa a real man mountain, who holds the ball up well, and can score goals. He has scored 11 goals in 16 games so far this season, the Spireites defence will have their hands full trying to contain him.

The Spireites have a good home record against the Cobblers, having won 6 of their last 9 meetings between the 2 teams, drawing the other 3 games. The last time Northampton won in Chesterfield was in the 92/93 season winning 3-1.

Stuart Atwell will be in charge today, the youngest ever to ref in the Premiership at the age of 24. He had 4 years in the top flight which was dogged with controversy, he got demoted in February of last season. His record last season was, games 25, yellows 79, reds 2.

This will be a tough game for the Spireites, but I feel that they will be determined to win this match, so they can get their promotion charge back on course. A close game a 2-1 win for the Spireites with Richards getting on the score sheet.

Torquay away is the next fixture for the Spireites.

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