Chesterfield's first visit to The Valley in over 30 years also marks the second Football For A Fiver initiative which will see an attendance of over 20,000 and send a message to the 19 new signings that this is what we want to be seeing on a regular basis. Having seemingly (touch wood) broken the 'North West Away Game Hoodoo' with wins against Bury and Rochdale this season, it would be nice to shake off the curse of 'Hype and Hope' whenever we embark on a big promotional push to increase supporter numbers.
A team with the aim of promotion needs to have an excellent home record, and although ours is by no means shabby (7th best in the league), draws against Sheffield Wednesday and Scunthorpe and a laboured win against 10-man Exeter has frustrated sections of The Valley faithful. Whether this is fair or not can wait for the weekly debate come early next week, but there is no doubt that a win is needed on Saturday to maintain momentum ahead of the most difficult duo of games of the season away to Sheffield United and MK Dons.
Despite coming off the back of an impressive 4-1 home win against Carlisle, Chesterfield languish in 20th place in the away league table (they did however beat Bournemouth 3-0 on their last road trip), having already shipped six goals against MK Dons back in August so a win should be demanded and expected. It may be worth keeping an eye on Leon Clarke, he of Di Canio argument fame, who has bagged five goals in his past three games.
The current starting XI is making decisions for Chris Powell relatively easy as they keep winning, but injury concerns to Bradley Pritchard and more worryingly to Dale Stephens may force a change around in the centre of midfield with Andy Hughes the most likely replacement for Stephens if he doesn't make it. Despite his partner firing out a hat-trick on Monday, many expect Danny Hollands to play on Saturday lining up alongside Jackson on the left and Wagstaff on the right. All other positions are more than likely to remain the same with the bench likely to see the most action with Jason Euell and Danny Green possibly joined by the likes of Alonso and Kermorgant who played 45 minutes midweek against West Ham.
A big crowd will be expectant, and deservedly so. If we manage to win when hype and expectation is high in front of a healthy crowd then maybe we can finally start to believe. 3-1 Charlton.
Come on you reds.
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Comments
Hope it doesn't fizzle out like it did last time out when we played Exeter!
COYR
Clarke for them.
Press conferences today so News Shopper will get the scoop if there is one.
2-0 routine victory and my 5 year old son is gonna be one of the mascots , i've told him to count the away fans for the 90 minutes to keep him entertained
Chesterfield 14th Highest possible position after games 10th Lowest 20th
Saturday, 24 September 2011