Chesterfield has registered two consecutive victories for the first time
this season; the achievement is made all the more impressive by registering
wins against proverbial title/promotion chasing sides of Division Three, AFC
Bournemouth and Hull City. The results cap off an excellent run of games which
included Derby County (2nd), Hull City (12th) and AFC
Bournemouth (3rd) with Spireites grabbing six points from a possible
nine.
What makes the results even more impressive, they have achieved the wins
without their leading creative player Mehmet Ekici who has been out injured and
found another supplier of assists in Miraleum Sulejmani. The Serbian
international who was Chesterfield’s marquee signing in the offseason, showed that he was capable of matching the
hype which came with his arrival in the Spireite’s 3-1 win over Hull City. His
direct running, intricate passing and superb finishing which eventuated with
Sulejmani grabbing 2 assists and one goal along with the man of the match
award. He continued his good form with another impressive performance against
third placed AFC Bournemouth with one goal and an assist. A once maligned
winger, manager Glory Days has been criticised for not using the Serbian enough
but the last two performances have demonstrated that Glory Days knows exactly
how to utilise a top talent like Sulejmani.
Along with Sulejmani’s good performances, it has coincided with Italian
striker Alberto Paloschi’s resurgence in scoring form. The Italian had recently
suffered a loss of form which saw Russian Fedor Smolov given an opportunity to
stake his claim for a starting spot but Paloschi has well and truly secured his
starting spot with two impressive performances against two top opponents. Paloschi
grabbed a brace against Hull City and a goal against Bournemouth.
Manager Glory Days reflected on their two inspiring victories in the
last week:
“It’s very encouraging when we put up two performances like that. We
have a very solid group of players and we held the belief that if we kept
ourselves in the game, we would be every chance to cause a shock. The likes of
our midfield group (Britton, Garmash, Lallana, Sulejmani, Manitias and De
Silvestri along with Duncan and Antonelli off the bench) has been sensational,
our defence has been watertight and our striking has been clinical. But we can’t
disregard the great performances of young Averor and Vogt who stepped in when
we had a loss of key personnel. I don’t know if we can top what we did in the
last few games honestly”
In even more positive news, Chesterfield secured their first Spanish
import Adrian Ortola who has impressed in the reserve grades at Barcelona and
is waiting to be mentored by Captain Claudio Bravo.
Chesterfield will face off against Miraleum Sulejmani’s former side
Plymouth Argle who are struggling at the bottom of the table but will be
motivated to be in front of the home fans and no doubt the Plymouth faithful
will be showing their “support” to Sulejmani’s return after his unceremonious
exit from the club.
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