Chesterfield comfortably beat Oldham Athletic to stay top of National League

Joe Quigley opened the scoring after just 34 seconds at Boundary Park for his first goal of the season.

Jeff King added a second after just seven minutes to put the Spireites in control early on and the result never looked in doubt after that.

The win keeps the Blues in top spot and extends their unbeaten start to the season to seven matches.

There was no Kabongo Tshimanga in the matchday squad after his proposed move to Birmingham City fell through at the 11th hour before Thursday’s transfer deadline.

As well as the missing Tshimanga, Paul Cook made two changes from the win against Altrincham as injured pair Armando Dobra and Akwasi Asante dropped out for Calvin Miller and Jack Clarke. This was Miller’s first start of the season and Clarke’s first in a year following a rotten time with hamstring injuries.

New signing Tim Akinola, who joined on a season-long loan from Arsenal on Thursday, was named among the substitutes, as was Michael Gyasi, who had not been involved for the last five games.

Oldham, managed by former title-winning Spireites manager John Sheridan, had ex-Town players Dan Gardner, who was forced off injured in the first-half, and Mike Fondop in their starting line-up.

Boundary Park is not a happy hunting ground for Chesterfield, but they got off to a dream start as the excellent Quigley pounced on a heavy touch by Oldham goalkeeper Magnus Norman to score his first goal of the season after just 34 seconds.

On seven minutes, the Spireites doubled their lead through King, who swept home from about 12 yards for his second goal of the campaign.

The Latics, under pressure from the disgruntled home faithful, responded with some chances for Fondop, Ben Tollitt and Hallam Hope as the half went on but they lacked a clinical edge in front of goal.

Town could have scored more goals, Clarke missed a sitter of a header at the back post, and Branden Horton struck a post from a tight angle and later hit the side-netting.

Miller, clearly keen to make an impression on his first start, threatened frequently down the left, while Clarke picked up clever positions in pockets and linked the play.

But the big take from the first 45 minutes, and the 45 that followed, was the performance of Quigley, who totally dominated Oldham’s young centre-backs in the air and looked in the mood for more goals.

And he had a glorious chance to grab his second early after the break but he shot straight at Norman after Miller did well to head the ball into his path.

Miller’s afternoon came to an end on the hour-mark as the winger hobbled off and was replaced by Jesurun Uchegbulam.

Quigley swivelled in the area after Liam Mandeville played a clever pass into him, but his shot was blocked, and not long after he fired wide after cutting inside on his left following neat play by Uchegbulam.

Akinola came on for his debut on 65 minutes, replacing Clarke, who could be happy with his display after such a long time out.

The big push from Oldham in the final 20 minutes never came, and Town saw this one out quite comfortably to record back-to-back wins on the road.

Blues fans taunted Sheridan about losing his job in the morning, and there was a late appearance off the bench for Gyasi in place of Oldaker.

Mandeville, Gyasi and Ollie Banks, facing his old club, almost added a third in five minutes of stoppage time, but they had to settle for just the two.

This was Chesterfield’s first win at Boundary Park in the league for 22 years. The hoo-doo is over.