Chesterfield boss Paul Cook said the strength of his squad was the difference as three of his substitutes scored second-half goals in a 5-2 win over struggling Morecambe.
Goals from subs James Berry, Armando Dobra and Jamie Grimes gave the Spireites the win after Dilan Markanday and Darren Oldaker’s strikes were respectively cancelled out by Ben Tollitt and a Tom Naylor own goal.
Cook, who introduced Grimes and Dobra at the break, said: “Morecambe made life really difficult for us and their players gave their all. They were the better side in the first half and the stronger team and I needed to get to half-time and make changes.
“Derek Adams could not have asked for any more from his players but the quality we have in the squad can take us away from teams. When you can have players like James Berry and Armando Dobra on the bench, especially when a game is stretched, it makes such a difference and unfortunately for Morecambe they don’t have that luxury.”
Chesterfield got off to a flying start with Markanday firing them into an eighth-minute lead with a shot that deflected off Tom White but the Shrimps levelled just two minutes later when Adam Lewis’s free-kick was flicked home by Tollitt.
Marcus Dackers wasted two good chances for Morecambe to take the lead as they had the better of the first period and the Spireites went ahead two minutes into the second half when Oldaker’s free-kick from the edge of the area beat Stuart Moore to his left.
Morecambe again levelled just after the hour when Tom Naylor diverted a Lewis cross past his own keeper.
From there the visitors’ substitutes came to the fore as Berry scored with a delightful curler from the left-hand side and Dobra raced onto a long pass to slot the ball past Moore.
Grimes completed the scoring with a free header from a Liam Mandeville corner and Berry almost made it six with a superb long-range effort that beat Moore but crashed against the crossbar.
Morecambe manager Adams felt his side paid the price for not taking their chances in the game.
He said: “We were on top in the first half and created a number of good chances but didn’t take them and unfortunately that has been our problem all season. We have not taken these big opportunities when they come along.
“At 2-2 I thought we were back in the game but we allowed them to score a third and they went on from there. It was so disappointing because there were lots of positives but we made so many individual errors it was frightening.
“Tactically we were excellent but individual mistakes are killing us.”
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