Chesterfield might have unlocked key trait ahead of Walsall clash | OneFootball

Chesterfield enjoyed one of their best wins of the season against Doncaster, and Paul Cook will be hoping his new-look attack can continue their form.

Some Town fans were expecting the worst when they hosted a Doncaster Rovers side, who had won their past four games, but the Spireites put on a show and pulled off one of their best wins of the season in a 5-2 victory, in what could prove to be a crucial turning point in Chesterfield’s season.

Coming into the local clash, Paul Cook’s men had won just one of their last seven League Two games and had failed to score more than one goal in a match once since mid-December.

Having lost Will Grigg to injury as well as Dilan Markanday and James Berry, who had scored 21 goals between the three of them, Chesterfield’s attack had looked a shell of its former self in recent weeks, but a new-look attack finally clicked for Cook, hitting five past Grant McCann’s in-form side, to keep alive Town’s play-off push.

The Blues’ Markanday and Berry replacements Michael Olakigbe and Dylan Duffy both netted their first goals for the club, while Aribim Pepple, who had gone goalless in his first five Chesterfield appearances, bagged a brace.

Next up for Town are top of the table Walsall, who are without a win in their last five games, conceding 10 goals in that spell, and with Cook’s attack high in confidence after the Doncaster win, it could be the perfect time to take it to the leaders.

The Rovers result leaves Chesterfield six points off the play-offs, but with a game in hand on the teams above them and a re-ignited front-line, it’s easy to see why Cook has called for his team to cause some damage in the latter months of the season.

Chesterfield’s front three have the potential to kick on following Doncaster victory

Having suffered from a chaotic injury crisis for much of the season, Cook promised a busy January window, and he delivered, bringing in six players to help rejuvenate an injury-riddled Spireites squad that had looked short of ideas at times in the past few weeks.

Striker Pepple was brought in on-loan from Luton Town after impressing at Southend United in the National League in the first half of the season, where he scored seven goals and assisted two in 19 games.

With Paddy Madden struggling for fitness and Grigg injured, the former Getafe youth prospect was placed straight into the starting 11, and he quickly added a new dimension to the attack.

Blessed with pace and power, which Town had been missing since the sale of Joe Quigley in the summer, Pepple has been a constant handful for League Two defenders, and after going goalless in his first five, he scored his first goals for the club against Doncaster.

The Kettering-born striker’s size and stature gave Chesterfield the option to deliver crosses into the box, which at times had been a criticism of Cook’s possession-heavy system, with both of his goals against Doncaster coming from crosses that were begging to be attacked.

Dylan Duffy had also picked up plaudits early into his Chesterfield career, initially signing on-loan, but shortly after making his debut, Cook decided to make the deal permanent, and it’s clear to see why.

In three seasons in League One with Lincoln City, where the 22-year-old played 49 games, mostly as a wide midfielder or wing-back, he only managed four goal contributions in over 1,000 minutes of football, but the former University College Dublin man is already off the mark in Derbyshire.

Duffy looks to have found his swagger for the Blues, and he certainly didn’t look like a player who hadn’t scored since March 2024 when he confidently fired a low effort past Teddy Sharman-Lowe into the back of the Doncaster net to open the scoring.

With on-form Armando Dobra occupying the number 10 position, Brentford loanee Olakigbe completes Chesterfield’s new-look attack, and it looks like Cook has pulled off another shrewd bit of business.

The 20-year-old joined the Spireites following an unsuccessful loan spell at Wigan earlier this season, where he made 13 League One appearances and failed to score or assist, but in a new environment, under an attacking coach in Cook, Olakigbe is already impressing on the Spireites’ right-wing.

With eight substitute appearances in the Premier League under his belt, the winger is still raw at 20-years-old and will look to add an end product to his game under Cook, having scored his first league goal of his senior career against Doncaster.

The trio have hit the ground running in Derbyshire, and with Cook’s impressive record at developing forwards, Town’s new boys are only likely to improve as the season progresses.

The Walsall clash will provide another big test for Chesterfield’s front three

League Two's highest-scoring teams collide on Saturday when Chesterfield visit Walsall, with the Spireites having scored 48 goals to the Saddler's 55, and if their entertaining 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture was anything to go by, fans are set for another mouth-watering clash.

The Saddlers are top of the league by seven points, but have only picked up two from their last five matches, with their recent dip in form coinciding with Nathan Lowe being recalled from his loan spell by parent club Stoke City.

The 19-year-old scored a brace the last time the teams met and is still top of the League Two scoring charts with 15 goals and five assists in 22 games, with Mat Sadler’s men losing five of their eight games since he was recalled.

Cook’s side have tended to step up against the top sides this season, with only two of their nine league defeats coming against teams higher than them in the table. The Spireites have instead often struggled to break down to mid-table opposition, who sit back in a low block.

Chesterfield have seen success against teams like Crewe Alexandra and Doncaster, and were a stoppage time penalty away from beating free-flowing Notts County, who all play attacking football, which allows the Spireites to exploit spaces left in transition, and that could be how they can unlock the league leaders.

In terms of tactics, the West Midlands outfit have tended to play a 5-3-2 formation this season, which could allow space for the likes of Duffy and Olakigbe to isolate and run at their opposing wing-backs, with the duo looking handy running with the ball.

Saturday could also be a big game for fellow new signing Jack Sparkes at left-back, who has impressed with his crossing ability early into his Chesterfield career.

The attacking fullback will be given the license to get forward and attempt to create a two versus one situation down the left alongside Duffy, and if given time and space, the former Exeter man can hurt the Saddler’s defence with wicked crosses into the box.

Traveling away to the league leaders is never going to be an easy game, but having just netted five against the league’s form side, and with an impressive record against the ‘top’ teams, Chesterfield will fancy their chances of coming away from the West Midlands with more points on the board.