Leeds United 2 - 1 Chesterfield: Spireites Unlucky in Defeat at Elland Road

Brian McDermott made a number of changes from the starting eleven that beat Brighton - Thompson, Drury, Brown, White, Norris, Poleon and Smith call came in as they looked to impress the boss.

Everything started quite well, Smith was found in the box by another long ball (we're going to hear a lot of that this season) and his terrible effort towards goal allowed Dom Poleon to get onto the end of the it and fire a shot just wide of the near post.

After that the visitors took control and were passing their way through the Leeds midfield with ease. It was surprising to see but Brown, Green and Norris were too slow and the lack of width was causing Leeds plenty of problems.

The pressure told and Chesterfield broke the deadlock with a brilliant move that had the Leeds defence stood still. Drew Talbot had acres of space down the right wing and his cross was put into the back of the net by Eoin Doyle who had the simplest of headers.

United's energy slightly improved and Leeds went looking for the equaliser with the home crowd on their case. It came through an unlikely source with Michael Brown getting space on the edge of the box before smashing the ball into the top corner.

Leeds took the lead a few minutes later when Poleon reacted quickest to a Chesterfield mistake and he went alone with Smith begging for a pass, and the youngster showed great power to wrong-foot Lee in the visitors goal.

In the second-half Leeds were much-harder to break down but still lacked that spark. In an attempt to try and find that missing element, McDermott introduced Ross McCormack and Luke Murphy into the game. The pair immediately showed their class with some neat touches but once more that lack of wingers was hurting Leeds time and time again.

Murphy could have got on the score-sheet as the game started to lose its zest, his stinging shot was well saved by Lee in the Chesterfield goal.

Poleon had two more chances past the hour mark but it was Lee once again that was determined to keep the scoreline at 2-1.

Smith could have also added his name to the scorers for the evening but he seemed a yard off the pace and several of his headers went wide of the mark in the final 20 minutes.

Chesterfield's Nathan Smith almost forced the game into extra-time in the final few minutes when he powered through but his shot hit the outside of the post and went wide.

Leeds eventually saw the game out and were lucky to win. Essentially all that matters is the result, but I can't help but think that Championship teams will have a field day against a team with no width. There's the obvious matter of seven first-team changes tonight but I think for us to have a respectable season we need to add - which I know is stating the obvious.

A new centre-back, and two wingers are probably needed from now until the end of the transfer window. Our commitment and passion will only get us so far but there's still plenty to be positive about.

We're going in the right direction, we could just go that much quicker with a bit of added quality.

Over to you now GFH!