Traore royally rewarded as Chesterfield down Reading

Reading 1 Chesterfield 2

 

Midfielder Alain Traore shone brightest on the night, capping off his MOTM performance with a crucial goal

Chesterfield knocked off another impressive display with a 2-1 win against overachieving Reading. While the Spireites have experienced a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ season, they provided an excellent display against surprise packet Reading who is in free fall after losing two on the trot.  

After a poor showing against Southampton, Chesterfield manager Glory Days made some brave tactical changes with Korean midfielder Koo Ja Cheol replacing Ukrainian Denys Garmash to provide more creativity in the midfield, Italian fullback Antonelli came in for Hiroki Sakai while Fabian Johnson was shifted to right back and Kevin Vogt came in for the suspended Havard Nordtveit and Glory Days faith was repaid with Koo providing a crucial assist to Traore for the first goal and solidified the defence with San Jose, Johnson, Antonelli and Vogt providing excellent displays.

Chesterfield started the brighter when Korean midfielder Koo Ja Cheol found English midfielder Adam Lallana who showed his balance and strength by shrugging off a would-be defender and fired a low drive at goal but only for his shot to drift wide and catch the outside of the post for a goal kick. However the Royals would be outdone when young German starlet Jonas Hoffman passed the ball to Austrian wingback Marcel Ziegl who forced his way into the penalty area and unleashed a shot that was brilliantly saved by Spireites keeper Claudio Bravo with a great dive.   

The barrage wouldn’t end there as Darron Gibson rolled a through ball into the feet of Portuguese towering forward Sergio Oliveira who used his power and control to turn his defender and fired a shot which was kept out by another brilliant dive by Bravo.  Spireites hit back when English striker Rickie Lambert found the run of Italian wingback Luca Antonelli who attempted a cheeky chip over the keeper Jasper Cillessen which went just over the bar.

Things would change after half time when a rejuvenated Chesterfield came out firing when South Korean midfielder Koo Ja Cheol saw the run of African midfielder Alain Traore and threaded a through ball. Traore then cut inside his defender and unleashed a thundering left foot strike which whistled past the out of position keeper. Traore finally open his goal scoring account after arriving from Division Four Aldershot Town for $5.4 million and the goal exhibited some of the Burkina Faso international’s best attributes of his sublime touch, evasive nature and his thundering left foot shot.      

Reading tried to hit back immediately when English defender Steven Taylor intercepted a pass, taking the ball forward and launching a defence splitting pass into the path of Sergio Oliveria who controlled the ball before unleashing a low shot which was spectacularly kept out a shot from point blank range. But the Royals attacking pressure tolled when English defender Steven Taylor fired a long range shot which whistled past keeper Bravo.

From then, Chesterfield took the ascendency when English midfielder Leon Britton saw a gap and threaded a through ball into the path of English forward Rickie Lambert who took a touch before firing a shot under the keeper and nestled into the bottom corner of the net. The towering striker added his third league goal of the season but more importantly grabbed a crucial three points for Chesterfield in their relegation fight.    

While Chesterfield had more possession but Reading created more opportunities at goal however the Spireites made their opportunities count by scoring with two of their three shots at goal.  

However Chesterfield will be without midfielder Denys Garmash for 9 days after picking up a heel injury today but will welcome back Norwegian utility man Havard Nordtveit who is back from his one match suspension.  

Manager Glory Days express his delight at the win

“It was a positive performance by the lads, I thought that our overall passage of play was encouraging and we lifted our performance against a good side.”

When asked about the man of the match performance of new signing Alain Traore

“I think he is always capable of performances like that. His pace, technical ability and dangerous attacking intent make him quite a handful for opposing defences. His Aldershot performances showed what he’s capable of and he has taken a little time to adjust to our style of play but he has shown the fruits of his labours with a sterling performance today.”