John Fleck

Defensive Midfielder - Chesterfield
30 Sep 2026
Wednesday
Process

Marked for John Fleck

8 Edition

The Chesterfield Courier

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The cup run ends for Chesterfield

0‑2 against Reading, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Match

The wait goes on for Chesterfield

7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Zach Hemming

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Zach Hemming in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chesterfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Chesterfield training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Will Grigg is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Janoi Donacien

A mark of 7.23, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Squad

The manager makes an example of John Fleck

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

Luke Butterfield runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Chesterfield and Colchester United cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Colchester United came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

In brief