Chesterfield substitutes make the difference in win over Morecambe

Posted Saturday, October 26, 2024 by PA

A superb second-half showing saw Chesterfield beat Morecambe 5-2 to heap further problems on the Football League’s bottom club.

Having led twice through Dilan Markanday and Darren Oldaker, only to be pegged back by Ben Tollitt and then a Tom Naylor own goal, substitutes James Berry, Armando Dobra and Jamie Grimes gave the Spireites the win.

Markanday opened the scoring after eight minutes when he tried his luck from the edge of the area and his shot took a wicked deflection and looped over the helpless Stuart Moore.

The Shrimps levelled two minutes later when Tollitt flicked home an Adam Lewis free-kick.

Morecambe had the better of the rest of the first period, with Marcus Dackers hitting the side netting, but it all went wrong for Derek Adams’s strugglers after the break.

Oldaker put Chesterfield 2-1 ahead on 47 minutes when he curled a free-kick past Moore from the edge of the area but an own goal from Naylor, who slid a Lewis cross past his own goalkeeper just after the hour, gave the Shrimps hope.

The visitors then took control as Berry made the decisive contribution, first curling home from the left side of the box before sending Dobra away to slot home.

Grimes added a free header from a Liam Mandeville corner and Berry almost made it six with a stunning long-range effort that hit the crossbar in added time.