Chesterfield's defensive woes highlighted in defeat to Dagenham and Redbridge

The Spireites pulled two goals back of their own after the break through Branden Horton and Tyrone Williams but it was not enough to stop them falling to their second successive home loss.

Let’s take a look at some of the talking points to emerge from the game...

FRAGILE

“Attack wins you games, defences win you titles,” Sir Alex Ferguson once said. Well, the Spireites have scored in all 12 games so far and have bagged two or more goals in 10 of those 12. So finding the back of the net is not the problem, although they have lacked a spark in the last two matches apart from in the closing minutes when it was too late.

The number of goals conceded is the main concern at the moment, but the responsibility lies with the whole team. The back four have looked disjointed and have made individual mistakes, but they don’t really get a lot of protection from those in front of them either.

Paul Cook has highlighted that they are an attacking team so they will get caught out in transition, but the only worry is that teams have worked that out now and they are starting to exploit it. Town play a high defensive line, but they don’t have particularly speedy centre-backs who can turn and run back towards their own goal so they may have to drop a little bit deeper.

WHAT’S THE ANSWER?

It is a tricky one because we have to remember that the Blues made their best ever start to a season and went 10 games unbeaten. I think if someone had offered us third place and being three points off the top of the table at this stage of the season then we all would probably have taken it.

Is it the formation? It is individuals? You could make a case for each of those but I think for me they need to go back to basics at Eastleigh on Saturday and keep it simple. They have got to be well-organised, keep things tight, don’t take any risks and stay in the game and then let their attacking players take advantage when gaps open up. It might not be pretty but they need to do whatever it takes to get a result.

KABBY

As I have already highlighted, goalscoring is not a big problem but calls for Kabongo Tshimanga to start his first game of the season are growing louder from the fans. His selection appears to surround whether he can play the lone striker role as effectively as what Joe Quigley does and whether playing them both together would mean they would not have as much control with one less man in midfield. I can see both sides of the argument, but Saturday might be the right time to test it out.

POSSIBLE CHANGES

As well as Tshimanga, there are a few other possible swaps to ponder. Could either of Bailey Clements, Laurence Maguire or Joe Cook get a first start of the season and help shore up the defence? Could Tim Akinola come in as a defensive midfielder and help shield the back four? There are some options there.

JEZ

Jesurun Uchegbulam was rewarded with his first start of the season after some impressive displays off the bench. It probably did not go as well as what he would have liked but I thought he showed plenty of fight and spirit. This will have been a learning curve for him and people should not write him off after this.

HORTON

Horton became Chesterfield’s 13th different scorer of the season with his first goal for the club. It was a well-taken strike and it meant that all of last night’s starting outfield players are now off the mark.

TEAM

Covolan; King, Williams, Grimes, Horton; Oldaker, Banks; Mandeville, Clarke (Miller, 75), Uchegbulam (Asante, 65); Quigley (Tshimanga, 65). Unused subs: Maguire, Akinola.