League One round up: Wednesday close gap

Chesterfield 1 (Talbot 4)

Milton Keynes Dons 1 (O’Shea 56)

Attendance: 6,444

Kind words alone will not keep Chesterfield up but Karl Robinson, the MK Dons manager, offered his support to John Sheridan and his players who remain at the foot of the table despite claiming a point against a side with promotion ambitions. “The Chesterfield team is littered with very good players,” Robinson said. “This is a strong and difficult place to come.” Drew Talbot gave the home side an early lead but James O’Shea equalised after the break. Sheridan was much more satisfied with his players than the previous week. “We’ve played against one of the best teams in the division and I think we’ve matched them for lots of the game,” he said. “I can’t ask more from my players, they are giving me everything and I can’t fault them.”

Colchester United 1 (Gillespie 3)

Huddersfield Town 1 (Okuonghae 90+5og)

Attendance: 3,929

Diego Arismendi remained an unused substitute but Simon Grayson, the Huddersfield manager, believes that the Uruguay midfielder has already made his presence felt after arriving on loan from Stoke City last Friday. “Diego is going to be a good acquisition,” Grayson said. “He will give us something different, but at the moment he isn’t 100 per cent. I think the midfield was better today. Maybe one or two are looking over at the bench.” Steven Gillespie put Colchester ahead but Anthony Wordsworth failed to convert an 88th-minute penalty before Magnus Okuonghae’s own goal handed Huddersfield a point. “I’m disappointed because I know how hard my team work,” John Ward, the Colchester manager, said.

Exeter City 1 (Sercombe 65)

Preston North End 2 (Hume 12, 84)

Attendance: 4,741

Iain Hume’s first-half goal, the 100th of his career, was not enoughto spare the Preston forward a half-time ticking-off. “I didn’t do as much in the first half as I would have liked, even though I scored the opening goal,” Hume said. “I wasn’t at the races and I got a telling-off at half-time. I was disappointed with myself even though I scored.” Chastised, Hume responded with a second goal in the 84th minute to secure the victory after Liam Sercombe had equalised for the home team. Paul Tisdale, the Exeter manager, said: “After the equaliser I thought we would go on to get the winner, but it wasn’t to be. I’m certainly not going to criticise any of my players. We’ve got nine games to go and I don’t think that would help at this stage.”

Hartlepool United 0

Stevenage 0

Attendance: 4,484

Neale Cooper, the Hartlepool manager, resisted the urge to be overly critical of his forward players after his side failed to score for the third successive game, but admitted his concerns about the pressures being placed on his back four by the failings in front of goal. “I’m not having a go at anyone but overall we have to better in front of goal,” Cooper said. “We went to 4-4-2 at half-time to try and vary it and we had a spell late on where we could have nicked a goal, but we really need to start punishing teams.” Stevenage had even more cause for regret as victory would have lifted them into the play-off places. Joel Byrom, the midfield player, believes that the forwards deserve better service. “We need to improve the final ball in to them,” Byrom said.

Leyton Orient 2 (Lisbie 29, Smith 45)

Brentford 0

Attendance: 4,173

Saido Berahino and Niall McGinn, on loan from West Bromwich Albion and Celtic respectively, were left in no doubt about the feelings of Uwe Rösler, the Brentford manager, after this defeat. Both were withdrawn at half-time and Rösler said: “There was not enough desire, running capacity, willingness to run behind and chase the ball, close people down, which is what made us good at the beginning of the season.” Kevin Lisbie and Jimmy Smith secured Orient’s first home win of 2012 and Russell Slade, the manager, said: “It was pleasing to keep a clean sheet, too. The back four to a man defended really well today. Ben Chorley was excellent, Terrell Forbes at right back, too, and Paul Rachubka made a really important save for us in the first half.”

Notts County 1 (Sam 88)

Sheffield Wednesday 2 (Lowe 53, Madine 66)

Attendance: 12,410

Sheffield Wednesday’s promotion bid is gathering fresh momentum after a third successive win under Dave Jones, the recently appointed manager. Their push for the top two, however, will not be aided by Robbie Fowler, the former Liverpool player, who had been linked with a move to Hillsborough. “I may contact Robbie for a game of golf but that would be about it,” Jones said. Goals from Ryan Lowe and Gary Madine inflicted a first defeat on Notts County since Keith Curle took charge. Lloyd Sam replied for the home side, who will attempt to bounce back when they face Sheffield United tomorrow. “The players don’t like losing, which is pleasing,” Curle said. “I don’t like it either, but I’m a realist and I can accept it if I’ve had a good performance.”

Rochdale 3 (Symes 3, 47, 70pen)

Oldham Athletic 2 (Kuqi 21, Reid 74)

Attendance: 4,671

The first hat-trick of Michael Symes’s itinerant career fuelled Rochdale’s hopes of avoiding relegation. The on-loan forward had failed to score on his first seven appearances for his tenth club but ended that run in emphatic style, the last of his three goals coming from the penalty spot after being brought down by James Tarkowski, the Oldham defender, who was sent off in injury time for a second bookable offence. “Gary Jones is our penalty-taker but after his last miss he said I could have the next one,” Symes said. Paul Dickov, the Oldham manager, was happy with goals from Shefki Kuqi and Reuben Reid but bemoaned poor defending. “It is annoying because we constantly work on it in training,” he said.

Scunthorpe United 1 (Parkin 21pen)

Charlton Athletic 1 (Wright-Phillips 6)

Attendance: 4,544

Bradley Wright-Phillips took his goal tally to 20 as Charlton ended a run of two consecutive defeats. However, Chris Powell, the manager, was more concerned with the treatment endured by Yann Kermorgant, his French forward. “I know he’s a danger but he needs protection,” Powell said. “He got a right buffeting and no protection and, in my eyes, that’s not good enough.” Rhoys Wiggins brought down Garry Thompson for Jon Parkin to equalise from the penalty spot and Alan Knill, the Scunthorpe manager, was thrilled with the progress shown by his team, who are now five points above the relegation places. “I said before the game we’re a match for anybody,” Knill said. “We’re starting to prove it.”

Sheffield United 1 (Evans 31)

Tranmere Rovers 1 (Akins 54)

Attendance: 17,444

Michael Doyle, the Sheffield United midfielder, remains optimistic about his team clinching automatic promotion despite being ahead of Sheffield Wednesday only on goal difference. “We’re still confident we are going to do it,” Doyle said. “We’re disappointed because that’s two games in a row where we have let a lead slip, but we go to Notts County on Tuesday knowing we need to be positive and get a good result.” Ched Evans put United in front, but Lucas Akins headed the equaliser nine minutes after the break. The point helped to keep Tranmere out of relegation trouble under Ronnie Moore, the new manager, who said: “We deserved the point, but in the second half we didn’t look like we wanted to win it.”

Yeovil Town 2 (A Williams 63, 84)

Walsall 1 (Mantom 44)

Attendance: 3,705

Andy Williams’s remarkable run in front of goal continued, thanks to two slices of good fortune as Yeovil won for the fourth time in a five-match unbeaten run. A shot from Jonathan Franks went in via Williams’s back to cancel out Sam Mantom’s opener for relegation-threatened Walsall before Williams scored his tenth goal in as many games via a deflection from Anton Peterlin. “I’m definitely claiming them both,” Williams said. The defeat ended Walsall’s six-match unbeaten run, and Dean Smith, the manager, was left to rue their bad luck. “It was unfortunate to come away with nothing to show for our efforts,” he said. “You’d be gutted to have one of those goals go against you, but two was very unfortunate.”