On Monday 2nd January I was at the B2Net Stadium for the first time in 2012 to watch the Spireites take on Oldham Athletic.

The Spireites were still propping up the rest of League 1 and sat 5 points adrift before kick off. Despite the position, Chesterfield had put up two respectable performances over Christmas, losing 1-0 at Huddersfield Town and drawing 2-2 at Scunthorpe United.

Today’s opposition was Oldham Athletic, who had thumped Chesterfield 5-2 at Boundary Park earlier in the season so this was sure to be another tricky game for the home side.

Chesterfield got off to a good start and took the lead after 34 minutes when French winger Alex Mendy charged down the wing, twisting and turning before crossing the ball to Jordan Bowery who fired the ball past the Latics keeper to put the Spireites ahead.

Oldham immediately pressured to level the scores and forced Chesterfield goalkeeper Tommy Lee to make two excellent saves. The lead was held for just 11 minutes before Matt Smith nodded the ball in at the far post after some poor defending allowed a cross in to the box.

Both sides went looking for a winner in the second half, but neither side could find a winner. Oldham brought on Shefki Kuqi and Luca Scapuzzi and piled on the pressure but they couldn’t find a late winner.

After the game I had pictures with Oldham players Andreas Mancini, Shefki Kuqi, James Tarkowski, David Mellor, Jean Yves Moto, Filipe Morais, Tom Adeyemi, Dean Furman, Chris Taylor, Kieran Lee and goalscorer Matt Smith.

Chesterfield 1-1 Oldham Athletic

Bowery ’34, Smith ’45

Lee, Robertson, Trotman, Ford, Smith, Talbot, Whitaker, Allott, Mendy (Boden ’76), Westcarr, Bowery

Cisak, Black, Diamond, Clarke, Morais (Parker ’60), Furman, Adeyemi, Taylor, Lee, Simpson (Scapuzzi ’87), Smith (Kuqi ’65)

Attendance: 6,723