Niven earns reward for forward thinking

Spireites ground out this victory, rarely hitting the heights of the coupon-busting win at Peterborough last week, but there was plenty of the steely determination and fight that's essential for any team to escape from this division.

Jack Lester continued his scoring streak, he's found the net in the last four of his five Chesterfield appearances - that's one more goal than he's collected yellow cards.

Man of the Match Derek Niven put his side one up on the stroke of half-time. The Scot's play this season is seeing him get forward much more.

He bagged the winner at London Road and, on Saturday, gave the home side a massive boost, driving a low shot home that changed the dynamic of a match which was proving to be more awkward than previous League Two encounters to date.

Not surprisingly, boss Lee Richardson kept faith with the side that brought Chesterfield a first win of the season. That meant new loan striker Adam Rooney from Stoke was on the bench while ex-Blades centre-half George Santos -signed on a non-contract basis as cover for Aaron Downes, who jetted off to Australia yesterday to play in two Olympic qualifiers - didn't even make the bench.

Paul Lambert, Wycombe's Champions-League-winning manager (he won as a player with Borussia Dortmund in 1997), was forced into a change of plan just before the kick-off.

Left-back Tom Williams reported chest pains so was replaced by Sam Stockley. Lambert reported after the game that Williams was okay.

He was unable to include his deadline-day loan capture ,Reuben Reid, who was ill and didn't travel.

The line was led by last season's League Two top gun, 24-goal Jermaine Easter, who'd seen his club turn down a bid from Reid's parent club, Plymouth Argyle, 24 hours earlier.

Any disappointment the striker may have had didn't show in his effort, but his shooting accuracy was somewhat underwhelming.

The most accurate adjective to describe the first half is 'scrappy'. Jamie Lowry and Steve Fletcher both got efforts on target but that caused no problems for keeper Scott Shearer, while Barry Roche twice had to use his feet to hack clear excellent Wanderers' efforts, Leon Johnson and Easter the losers in those duels.

Lester mishit badly inside the six-yard box, a microcosm of the half that ended with Niven's goal, a 15-yard hit that had, typically, come about after a few failed efforts to control the ball by a number of players from both sides.

Alan O'Hare replaced Peter Leven at the break. Leven (groin), Lowry (blisters) and Phil Picken (ankle) all failed to make 90 minutes.

The extent of their injuries wasn't known on Saturday, but they look likely contenders to sit out tomorrow's Johnstone's Paint Trophy game at home to Hartlepool (KO 7.30pm).

Scott McGleish failed to get a shot on target after a Downes error, the visitor's best chance to level before Lester doubled the advantage.

Moments earlier, Rooney had entered the field and he was able to observe a Niven burst and a Picken cross, missed by the keeper, that fell to Lester at the far post.

He was able to guide a simple, unmarked header, into the net to confirm a first home win of the season.

Niven missed out on an early Goal of the Season contender, Shearer saving his shot, but it was Lester’s 75-yard run, including twists and turns galore, that had the crowd wowing.

Richardson was pragmatic in victory: “I’m pleased we’ve got the win, but at times we were slightly fortunate, if I’m honest,” he said. “Wycombe had a couple of chances that, had they taken them, could have made things different, but when we did go forwards in any kind of positive drive, we looked like we were going to score.”