Chesterfield 1-2 Rotherham United
Evans, 29 og, 26
Smith, 33 (pen)
Rotherham United won their pre-season friendly game at the Proact Stadium this afternoon beating Chesterfield two-one.
It was the hosts who had the first look at goal on five minutes when David Buchanan sent in a great ball which went just too far for Joe Rowley to get on the end of. At the other end Ben Wiles sent the ball in towards Freddie Ladapo but Buchanan got there first only sending the ball towards Carlton Morris who saw his shot got wide. Minutes later Michael Smith did well to chase the ball and get a cross into the box which was cleared by a Spireites defender with the resulting Dan Barlaser corner falling to Ladapo only for a superb save by Shwan Jalal in the Chesterfield goal stopping the Millers’ striker opening the scoring. Ladapo and Morris exchanged passes, after some more good work from Wiles, before the former got past Jonathan Smith only for his shot to go past the post. Chesterfield won the ball on the half-way line which resulted in Smith getting a shot away but it went into the side netting before another chance for the Millers saw a Barlaser shot well held by Jalal. Wiles picked out Ladapo who saw his shot go across goal but a minute later Barlaser’s shot at goal came off the boot of a Chesterfield player and settled in the far corner of the net to put the South Yorkshire side in front. Just three minutes later Rowley found space in the box to shoot which was pushed away by Lewis Price falling to Will Evans who smashed to ball home for the equaliser. Evans turned from hero to villain minutes later when he brought down Morris in the box and Michael Smith scored from the resulting penalty giving he visitors a two-one lead going in at half-time.
Two minutes into the second half and a short corner from Dan Barlaser to Ben Wiles saw Wiles send a ball into the area which just missed the waiting Millers players in the box followed by a ball in minutes later from Freddie Ladapo which again missed the Rotherham players waiting at the back post. Liam Mandeville might have done better with a header for the hosts before Anthony Gerrard put a ball over the crossbar from some twenty yards out before Shaun MacDonald blocked a cross from McKay. Just after the hour mark the Millers made three substitutions – Clark Robertson for Joe Mattock, Jamie Proctor for Ben Wiles and Matt Crooks for Michael Smith. A good pass from Robert Weir found McKay whose shot at goal was touched onto the post by Laurence Bilboe to safety before a header from Scott Boden went straight into the waiting arms of the Millers’ ‘keeper. Carlton Morris and Shaun MacDonald made way for Kyle Vassell and Matthew Olosunde. The Millers should have gone further in front but after a great cross in from Robertson neither Ladapo or Proctor could get on the end of it. This was Ladapo’s last action as he was replaced by Joshua Kayode who is straight into the action when his header found Vassell only for his shot from distance to be saved by Luke Coddington. And it was the ‘keeper that the Spireites had to thank again a couple of minutes later when he did well to keep out a shot again from Vassell before a cross from Proctor was heading towards Crooks but a Chesterfield defender got there first.
All in all another good workout for Paul Warne’s men and another pre-season win giving a number of players minutes on the pitch.
Teams
Chesterfield – Jalal (Coddington (45)), Buchanan (Sheridan 74), Evans, Maguire (Wedgbury 74), Rowley (McKay 61), Weston (Weir (45)), Mandeville (Wakefield 74), Gerrard (Sharman 74), Boden (Shaw 74), Smith (Yarney (45)), Hollis
Rotherham United – Price (Bilboe 45), Jones, Mattock (Robertson 62), MacDonald (Olosunde 72), Wood, Wiles (Proctor 62), Ladapo (Kayode 80), Barlaser, Morris (Vassell 72), Ihiekwe, Smith (Crooks 62)
Attendance – 1,675 (626 Millers fans)
