Game 38 - The Spireites (H)
Team - Chesterfield FC
Date - 14/03/2026 15:00
Where - Meadow Lane

What would your starting line-up be? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

Another mouthwatering derby awaits Notts on Saturday, when they meet local rivals Chesterfield at Meadow Lane in an early kick off.

Chesterfield have won 2 of their last 5 matches with 1 draw & 2 defeats.They lost their most recent match at home to an improving Shrewsbury side 2:3.They currently stand in 8th place, 8 points behind Notts in League 2

In their last 10 matches Chesterfield have won 4, drawn 3 & lost 3. They have accumulated 15 points from a possible 30, scored 15 goals & conceded 12, so their form is mixed as they currently lie in 12 place in the form league table.

Notts have failed to beat Chesterfield in their 3 league meetings since Chesterfield were promoted back to League 2. Notts have lost 2 & drawn 1 of those 3 games. Notts will be hoping to get their 1st win in four matches on Saturday.

Notts were boosted by Ollie Norburn's return when he was influential in Notts win at Walsall last Saturday. They will be hoping that Matt Palmer & Alassana Jatta will be fit to return. Striker Lee Ndlovu is still serving a 3 match ban so won't be available.

I expect that Head Coach Martin Paterson will make a few changes from the side that started against Walsall. We may see Tangen replace Hall, & Kouhyar replace Grant in the AM positions. We may also see McDonald come in for Platt in defence.

It's another tough game & Chesterfield will make it very hard for Notts to get through them. Notts have to come out swinging straight away & try to get an early lead.

Key areas will be all over the pitch, particularly in the Notts Attacking Midfield positions. Can they create enough goal scoring opportunities like they did in that 2nd half against Walsall? If they do I think that Notts can get a positive result.

Update.

After listening to Martin's pre Chesterfield press conference there is no update about whether any injured players will be ready for Saturday. There was no word on the extent of Matt Palmers injury either. Martin was keeping things close to his chest about whether any of those players would be available, so we will just have to wait & see.

I don't mind about the fitness of the players not being disclosed, it keeps the opposition guessing and makes their prep that little bit more awkward not knowing who they are potentially going to face. I'm hopeful though, imagine the buzz around Meadow Lane if both Jatta and Palmer are back in the squad! 🤩

The away fixture was one of our poorer showings this season and we didn't even have an excuse of them sitting really deep and giving us no space, Chesterfield were just simply the better side. So we do need to pay them back now, especially after last season too, I think we haven't won any of the matches since they've been promoted back to League 2.

I'm sure we'll see a few changes for this one but I'd be tempted to start with the side that finished the match against Walsall. Although I would keep Macari at RCB because I'm not convinced Platt is suited to playing there.

I am more nervous about this game than I felt leading into the Grimsby clash. Chesterfield are a team who usually always makes it difficult and for once I would just love to see us control the game routinely, execute a solid team performance and just focus on getting those vital 3 points. I don't expect it to be easy, nor do I think they will just let us play, but I am hoping to see quality from Notts.

After the performance against Walsall, we need to show how much more confident we are home because it could signify more support in believing we can get promoted.

There's absolutely everything in this to be taken seriously, and that the final out come could lead us one step closer to the finish we all are hoping for. I really want Matthew Dennis to keep his head, he's very quick to push and retaliate and I can see it being a big issue if Chesterfield notice just how frequently Dennis has been being aggressive. In the last three games he's given opposition players aggressive pushes, he did it against Tranmere, then against Grimsby (which I was suprised he wasn't sent off) and then against Walsall.

Those silly types of offenses won't help us in this stage in the season, and being our main striker with Alasaana Jatta out (I hope he comes back for this game) we are still in danger. Even if Jatta was to come back for tomorrow, we still need to be careful not to get silly suspensions.

Defensively, I am counting on Jacob Bedeau, Matt Platt and Lewis Macari to be at their best. I want to see them trying to block everything, and give James Belshaw less to worry about from distance.

Ideally, no silly one-on-ones either.

There should be a certain kind of confidence-boost and determination after Walsall...

It will be needed because this won't be easy. Chesterfield are at least as good as Grimsby, the Walsall performance wasn't great overall and we're still missing the same key players (who won't return at 100% anyway). It's strange that we lose another key player like Robertson and there's no word on how serious the injury is.

We need to get into them early and carry no passengers.

I think MP will and should play Dennis up front (Jatta will be fasting, let him have a 15min run out from the bench).

The main question as usual is who will play behind in the No.10 spots. MP has gone for the pressing of Grant and Iorpenda so much but surely he's learned by now that this can leave us toothless.

Iorpenda deeper with Norburn is always my preference. Hall hasn't had a good game since October. Kouhyar has spent the last month showing us he's an impact sub not a starter. MP is desperately trying to give these shirts away but nobody will take them! After his performance last week Bennetts deserves a shot at it. I'd say Tangan for the other shot, but it'll probably be Grant.

Really looking forward to a great derby match today. COYP!

IT'S MATCHDAY COYP!!

I agree with all the above, putting out the strongest team is paramount as Chesterfield will be no pushover. The return of Jatta, Palmer and Robertson would be a phenomenal bonus, starting or not. We need to start as we mean to go on, hard but fair giving nothing away. A couple of early goals and settle down to 98 mins of graft. That's it in a nutshell COYP.

Today's Notts team

Palmer's back. Jatta on the bench

Very Interesting - great to see Palmer back, let's he can keep healthy for the final 11/14 games

And Tangen! - he's been given the chance before Bennetts. We need these players to take the chance MP is giving them.

Two sitting mids....this means Tsaroulla and Jones, and maybe Bedeau too, have to get forward to make sure we attack C'field with numbers

Platt for Macari? Not sure about that...do we need extra height today? Macari's done nothing wrong. Getting RodMac in the team is getting your best players on the pitch. Platt is better at CB than Macari is at RCB, but is Platt at RCB? Guess we'll find out soon.

Jatta makes the bench! Consipracy theories officially retired.

It's a strong match squad. Great to see Palmer back alongside Norburn. And Jatta on the bench is a big boost. I'm pleased McDonald is back in the starting 11. Tangen makes his first start in a home match. Iorpenda in a more forward role could be a vital change too. Notts need to start well.

The Match is underway.

GOOOOOAAAAAL OWN GOAL.

GOOOOOAAAAAL PLATT

Half time

What a half we have seen. Notts down to ten men after 20 minutes, but they have showed tremendous spirit to come back twice.

An own goal from a Jones cross for Notts first goal, & another great cross sees Platt follow up after Dennis is denied by their goalkeeper, for the Notts equaliser in first half injury time.

(46) Back to it.

Notts 2 Chesterfield 2

That has to be one of the most ridiculous sending offs in our history. You are on a yellow card and then you do something daft. The referee had no choice. It's has been a great first half otherwise.

DEFEAT FOR NOTTS

Disastrous day of self-destruction

Valiant effort by most of those who stayed on the pitch

Even before the sending-off, I didn't think MP's changes were working

Platt for Macari reduced the ball-playing ability down the right. Tsaroulla looked off it and missed his partner Macari

Norburn AND Palmer is duplication, we've seen this before

Tangan didn't take his chance to claim a starting shirt.

If MP wants McDonald AND Platt on the pitch (and you could understand that), he might have to rethink and go with a back 4

Hinchy 90mins and an assist in a 5-1 Wealdstone home win btw

Edited March 14Mar 14 by theAnticlough

Once again, a team has come to Meadow Lane & beaten Notts in the tactical battle. The Norburn sending off changed the game. When a player is on a yellow card they shouldn't do anything silly but Norburn throwing a boot off the pitch was a big risk to take.

I thought that Chesterfield got all the fifty fifties from the Ref today. I counted 7 yellow cards & one sending off.

Notts were always going to struggle to get anything out of this match after that. They showed lots of spirit in the first half coming back twice, but Chesterfield played well in the 2nd half & Notts only had one header on goal.

We have to move on from this defeat. Hope the injury to Platt is not serious. At least Palmer got some minutes & Jatta 15 minutes or so at the end. Both players will be vital for Notts's chances in the last 10 games.

Another epic fail I'm afraid. Big Saturday crowd, TV, local derby, any one of those is usually enough for a let down. Let's hope the play-offs this year are scheduled for a Monday morning, behind closed doors, during a TV technicians' strike.

It's squeaky bum time now as there are 10 games left. Hopefully the injury to Matty Platt isn't too serious.

Irony there @Dripsey3 is that McDonald is just as good....with 3-2-4-1, we only need one of them really. But yeah let's hope his injury is nothing much.

The more I reflect on it, the more I think dropping Macari for a home game like this was nuts. Him and Tsaroulla spend all year building up an understanding, why throw that away?

There was absolutely nothing coming down the right. The change of personnel and the weird change of shape (not a back four, but not our usual positioning) meant that we couldn't establish territorial dominance in the first 20mins of the match - we go down a goal and are still on the back foot at the time Norburn throws the boot. Not having the vertical movement in the team, from having both Norburn and Palmer also prevented us from getting on top. Both were defensive, scaredy-cat moves.

A bad few days for MP I think. Hope he can own it and put it right.

Looking at the latest scores with the top three winning and a gap opening up it looks like Notts need to concentrate on securing a top two playoff place.

There’s only one person to blame for that defeat and that’s Norburn, why would he do that when he was on a yellow card? Why give the ref a decision to make? A moments petulance has cost us the game, unfortunately we are seeing quite a bit of that sort of thing lately and I think it’s something MP needs to cut out. Jatta, Dennis, Norburn and to some extent Jones all have fiery temperaments and can react with petulance, opposition play on that sort of thing in order to get an advantage.

Without the sending off I’m pretty sure we’d have won that game and that’s what’s so disappointing.

@Fan of Big Tone you are 100% correct, petulance, not for the first time I'm afraid from this player has cost us dearly. The 10 left on the pitch and further substitutes did us proud. I thought Belshaw could easily have punched or even caught their 3rd, but bottled it. The positive is the return of Matty Palmer and Alasana Jatta so let's look forward to Accrington Stanley on Tuesday evening. COYP

Remarkably, results have favoured Notts with the clubs chasing us for a playoff place. Three of those clubs lost so Notts remain 8 points ahead of the teams in 8th, 9th & 10th positions, & Notts have a vastly superior goal difference too. So there's still a healthy gap to those places.