Chesterfield Hockey Club men’s 1st team made the journey north to Ben Rhydding in their latest Yorkshire North-East Division 1 league match last weekend. This match was anticipated to be a difficult challenge, given Ben Rhydding were only 1 place below Chesterfield in the league table.

The match didn’t start well for visitors Chesterfield when they went behind after only 5 minutes following a good piece of skill from a Ben Rhydding forward, beating his man and firing home from a tight angle to make it 1-0 to the home team.

Chesterfield responded immediately with a great piece of attacking play from midfielder Ryan Speed, beating 2 opponents before playing in skipper Jack Hartley who finished clinically with a flick which found its way in off the far post.
With only 15 minutes gone, Chesterfield then took the lead following a superb flowing counter attack. This time it was Ollie Addy, who driving at pace into the Ben Rhydding defence caused real problems, before squaring the ball – again to Hartley, who kept his composure well to drive a shot home from close range.

Ben Rhydding still posed plenty of problems for Chesterfield and had most of the possession for the remainder of the 1st half, although they were limited to few goal scoring chances. The only real one of note was a penalty corner in which the home side forced a smart save from Chesterfield goalkeeper Regan Morton.

With Chesterfield coming out after half time with a 2-1 lead, they were keen to keep working hard and take the game to Ben Rhydding. However, it was Rhydding who started to take total control of the match in the 2nd half, enjoying large spells of possession of the ball, and patiently probing for an opening.

The Chesterfield defence marshalled by man of the match Josh Beardsley (pictured), were severely tested. Chesterfield remained equally patient, and in fact, virtually the whole team took on defensive duties for large spells showing huge resilience to stay in the match. If the challenge was not hard enough at this point, Chesterfield had 2 players sin-binned with temporary suspensions following fouls, which reduced the visitors to only 9 players for a 5 minute period. Beardsley in particular, controlled the game superbly during this very difficult period, relieving pressure on the team with a combination of clearances and intelligent passes out from the defence.

Despite Ben Rhydding being in total control of the match, they were still limited to very few scoring opportunities during the 2nd half, and Chesterfield looked a threat on the counter-attack with Ben Truby going close with a half chance, and Ollie Addy also on the end of a great chance, forcing a very good double save from the Ben Rhydding goalkeeper.

Chesterfield managed the closing moments of the match well to finish relieved winners with the final score at 2-1, and allow Chesterfield to take a big stride forward in securing their status in the Yorkshire North-East Division 1 next season.

Next week Chesterfield will host league leaders Sheffield at St Marys, with Chesterfield keen to continue their good run of form, and put in a good performance.