David Webb: Chesterfield showed promotion credentials at Harrogate

Chesterfield’s assistant manager David Webb felt a 2-1 win at Harrogate bore all the hallmarks of a promotion candidate as the visitors climbed up to second in the League Two table.

The Spireites, who had never won in six previous contests against their North Yorkshire hosts, took a sixth-minute lead through on-loan Wigan attacker Ronan Darcy’s brilliant individual goal.

But home goalkeeper James Belshaw made a brilliant save to deny Dylan Duffy moments later and wasteful misses by Armando Dobra and Lee Bonis were then punished by Stephen Duke-McKenna’s 50th-minute equaliser – the ex-QPR winger’s third goal of the season.

Harrogate applied pressure but it was Chesterfield skipper Chey Dunkley who powered in an 81st-minute header to seal victory.

A delighted Webb said: “We missed three gilt-edged chances and you start thinking that might end up biting us on the backside.

“When Harrogate then scored, it gave them a lift, but we didn’t buckle and reacting to bad things is something you need in your armoury to get promotion and that’s why we are currently sitting in a good position.

“We defended our box valiantly and our quality came through. Dunks works so hard during set-piece sessions and he gets frustrated when he doesn’t score, but we got him in a good position where he could bully the ball into the net.”

Webb was also thrilled with the quality of Darcy’s first goal in Chesterfield colours after he left half the home defence on the seat of their pants with a shimmying run before finishing with aplomb.

“I can’t wait to watch it back,” Webb added. “It’s the kind of goal you want to watch over and over again.

“It was like poetry the way he cut back and cut back and we were just hoping he’d not done too much, but he’s a cracking kid with an abundance of ability and, hopefully, there will be more of those moments to come from him.”

Home boss Simon Weaver blamed himself for the end of his side’s unbeaten start to the League Two campaign, having introduced Bobby Faulkner from the bench in place of fellow centre-back Tom Bradbury as Liam Mandeville lined up to take a corner.

Faulkner then lost Dunkley following Mandeville’s delivery, with Weaver conceding: “I’ll beat myself up about making a change just before a corner. We were big in that six-yard box as a result of the substitution that I made, but I have to take full responsibility for the timing of the change because we conceded from it.

“I thought we were in the ascendancy in the second half. Dukey came up with another great finish after a brilliant through ball from Shawn (McCoulsky), but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. I think our front four are electric, though, and we’ve got to feed them more, because they are individuals who are capable of special moments and some of the football we can play is great on the eye.”