'Attacks win games, defences win titles' - five talking points from Chesterfield's eventful victory against Dorking Wanderers

Here are some of the main talking points from the game:

EXHAUSTING

It was great to get the new season underway with a stress-free afternoon…not! Seven goals, a penalty, a red card, leads given up, advantages snatched back, it was exhausting. I had to re-write my match report intro three times. Even when Chesterfield got their fourth in the 98th minute I was still thinking there was time for Dorking to equalise given the chaos that had gone on before. It was thrilling entertainment, but not good for the heart. A comfortable 2-0 win next week please lads.

THE POSITIVES

You always want to win your first match of a new season and, in the end, Chesterfield got the three points so that should settle everyone down straight away. They scored four goals, with Liam Mandeville and Ryan Colclough carrying on where they left off from last term which is a good sign. And Joe Quigley ended his eight-month wait for a goal by scoring the winner which should boost his confidence.

DEEP BREATH

Right, now for the other stuff. If Chesterfield want to win the league this season then they are going to have to defend better than this as a team. They can’t be needing to score four goals to win a match. Attacks win you games, defences win you titles, as Sir Alex Ferguson famously said. In fairness, not all sides are going to leave as many men up the field as Dorking did. They were very brave and they were rewarded with the goals they got and they could have bagged more, as could Town.

Wanderers went with a high press in the second-half and they got a lot of joy from it, forcing the Blues to turnover possession cheaply and make rash clearances and decisions. There was a tension and anxiety in the Spireites’ play and they were doing things I have not seen them do before. They didn’t have the control that they normally have and they looked rattled for a period but, much to their credit, they really dug in, managed to ride it out, got some luck, and showed quality of their own in the final third to bag the points. Going forward, they can’t allow matches to become as end-to-end like a basketball game, as much as it was a lot of fun to watch.

PROTECTION FOR DOBS

Armando Dobra was on the end of some rough challenges which went unpunished by referee Ruebyn Ricardo and at one point he was in danger of losing control of the game. Ricardo is only 25 and has only been in charge of a handful of National League games, although he is highly thought of because he was given a League Two match towards the end of last season. If referees are being advised to let things flow a bit more this season, that’s fine, but we can’t be allowing dangerous tackles, ones that could seriously injure players, to slide, which was a bit of a theme two years ago. I actually thought the officiating had improved last season but many of those referees have now been promoted to the EFL so we will have to wait and see what the latest group is like. One thing's for sure and that is with the amount of added-on time, 13 on Saturday, we are going to see more injury-time goals than normal.

BIG CALL

The decision to start Ryheem Sheckleford over Jeff King, who was left out completely, was a big call. If Sheckleford is to be the preferred option at right-back then perhaps King could be used further up the pitch because his attacking output for a full-back has been the best in the National League for a few seasons now.