Spireites Seal Narrow Victory Against Barnsley.

Chesterfield managed to hold on and claim a 2-1 victory against Barnsley at the Proact Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with both goals coming courtesy of Irish talisman Eoin Doyle. The visitors only managed to pull one back in the closing stages through Keith Treacy’s close-range finish, which in the end wasn’t enough to rescue a point for his side.

In the opening moments, Conor Hourihane tried his luck from range and forced Tommy Lee into a diving save which eventually led to a Daniel Jones clearance. Gary Roberts latched onto a neat through-ball on the left-hand side before releasing a low cross towards Sam Clucas, who ultimately failed to connect.

Jones was next to fire a driven cross into the visitors’ penalty area, with Doyle meeting the ball with a headed effort that sailed straight into the palms of Ross Turnbull. Throughout the first period, the majority of goalscoring opportunities created came as a result of crosses from wide positions.

Moments later, Roberts delivered and Ian Evatt never troubled Turnbull with a downward header. On 42 minutes, the Spireites opened the scoring through Doyle’s majestic chip that left the former Chelsea goalkeeper stranded on his own 18-yard line.

Immediately after the break, Doyle was bearing down on goal once again but decided wrongly to involve Clucas who received possession in an extremely awkward position. Kane Hemmings went one-on-one with Tommy Lee, only to fire straight at the goalkeeper who palmed the ball away to safety.

Just before the hour mark, Chesterfield netted a deserved second and Doyle upped his tally to 16 league goals following a finessed shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the net that Turnbull had absolutely no chance of reaching. Suddenly, the Tykes came alive with Hemmings going close with a half-volley that rattled against the outside of the post and into the side-netting.

With five minutes of normal time left to play, the visitors reduced the deficit through Treacy’s simple tap-in after the former Burnley midfielder made himself available to a low routine cross. For the full four minutes of additional time, Barnsley continued to press forward in numbers but ultimately failed to prevent a Spireites victory masterminded by a man named Doyle.