| The welcome win over Lincoln on the weekend has
hopefully given us the injection of confidence we require as we face the
second of three games in the space of seven days.
The game against Chesterfield on paper should prove to be
a lot more difficult task than the one we faced against Lincoln on
Saturday but the Spirites have lost their last two league games after
making an unbeaten start to the season.
Chesterfield started with two draws but since then
they have recorded four straight victories and their first defeat at
home to Barnet on the previous weekend come somewhat as a surprise.
This was followed up by an identical 1-0 defeat at Notts County but Chesterfield are still in a healthy fourth position
with fourteen points from their eight games.
Chesterfield were one of the four teams that were
relegated last season and this ended their six year stay in League One.
Despite an encouraging start, the Spirites struggled
towards the end of last season and ended with only three wins in their
last nineteen games which resulted in them finishing four points adrift
of safety in the final relegation spot.
This poor run of form cost manager Roy MacFarland his
job in March of this year but his replacement Lee Richardson was
unable to steer them to safety.
Richardson is in his second spell as manger of
Chesterfield after previously taking charge on a caretaker basis in 2003
prior to MacFarland's arrival in charge.
Chesterfield's problems last season were up front and
this was confirmed when Caleb Folan ended up top goal scorer with twelve
goals – twice the number of his nearest competitor – despite joining
Wigan in the January transfer window for half a million pounds.
Chesterfield had a decent record at home last season
but struggled to pick up wins on their travels and their win at
Peterborough this season was their first away from home since January.
Front man Jack Lester had made a good start to the
season and will be Chesterfield's main attacking threat with six goals so
far this season and this is one more than we have scored as a team in the league.
Lester joined the club on a free transfer from
Nottingham Forest in the summer and went on a run of scoring in six
successive games until Chesterfield fired blacks in their last two
games.
Recent Encounters:
You have to go back to the 2004/05 season for the last
game between the two sides when we completed the double over
Chesterfield.
The first game at the Racecourse ended in a 3-1
victory with goals from Stephen Roberts, Mark Jones and Chris Llewellyn
but it was Juan Ugarte who took centre stage in the return match.
Chesterfield scored the opening goal in this game but
Ugarte went on to score four goals until Chesterfield grabbed the
consolation in a 4-2 win.
Chesterfield's last win at the Racecourse came in 2002 when Glynn Hurst scored the only goal of the game on the stroke of
half time.
The overall head-to-head in the league sees
Chesterfield out in front with 47 victories compared to our 33 and there
have been 24 draws in the 104 league games between the two teams.
Team News:
Wrexham's options are boosted with the return of Chris
Llewellyn from suspension but Michael Proctor sits out the final game of
his three match ban.
Following the performance on Saturday, it is difficult
to see how Brian Carey can change the team line-up to accommodate the
return of Llewellyn but we still remain without the services of Mike
Williams, Silvio Spann and Eifion Williams.
There is no news as of Monday night on the fitness of
Ryan Valentine who has missed the last two games through injury.
New loan signing Felix Bastians goes straight into
Chesterfield's squad after joining from Nottingham Forest.
Fellow loanee Nicky Travis is also available for the first time, but
striker Steve Fletcher (thigh) is out, with Adam Rooney likely to
replace him.
Elsewhere in League 2:
A full midweek fixture list sees new league leaders MK
Dons travel to bottom placed Mansfield who have lost six of their
eight games so far this season.
Darlington are one point behind in second spot and are
also at home to Rochdale whilst third place Hereford travel to Notts
County.
At the other end of the table, Lincoln, who are in the
drop zone due to a worse goal difference compared to us, are on their
travels again when they visit Bury who are only a place above us in the
table. |
