A FEW months ago they could comfortably have been classified as the worst FA Cup team in the land, now the most magical season in Chesterfield's history had spirited them into the semi finals. But as his ecstatic team mates rushed off yesterday for a celebratory lock in with a fraternal pub landlord, the man whose goal had put them within one match of Wembley was in no particular hurry to join them.
"The lads are going for a drink, but at the moment, I don't feel I need one," he said. "I'm six hours ahead of them already."
That goalscorer was Chris Beaumont, a £25,000 close season buy from Stockport County, and if his exhilaration had left him six hours ahead in drinking terms, it was the yard he gained on Wrexham's fullback, Deryn Brace, that settled a bracing quarter final tie between the two surviving second division sides just before the hour,
For Wrexham, it was an infuriating defensive error, for Chesterfield, the continuation of a wonderful fantasy. As Beaumont and Brace harried for possession on the edge of the area, the goalkeeper, Andy Marriott, wandered into no man's land, leaving Beaumont a simple task to hoke the ball over him, and Brace remonstrating wildly over the confusion. Beaumont had only scored once before for Chesterfield.
Thousands of lower division supporters give their lives to one club and never experience anything like this. When the referee, Mike Riley, blew for time, and Tina Turner's Simply The Best blared over the PA system, they danced to it, they sang to it and, yes, many cried to it. This was not the routine commemoration of superiority, as seen at Manchester United or Liverpool, but joy tinged with disbelief. It should not be happening, but it is.
And Chesterfield were particularly vulnerable yesterday. Kevin Davies, the 19 year old hat trick hero against Bolton in the fourth round, and Darren Carr were both suspended following a free for all in a league match against Plymouth. To add to this, Sean Dyche, Andy Morris and Jonathan Howard were all passed fit out of necessity rather than medical logic.
For half an hour, Wrexham ran the game. Kevin Russell, an old, bald head in midfield, repeatedly freed the wing back, Brace, down the left, much to the embarrassment of Beaumont.
In Saltergate's wooden stand, pessimism was rife. Chesterfield had recorded a Cup song - We Can Build A Dream - however, few expected to be playing it come Monday morning. But John Duncan's half time reorganisation, with Chesterfield pressing forward on to Wrexham's wing backs, shifted the balance.
Howard's angled shot was saved, Beaumont scored, then when the linesman failed to flag for offside, almost scored again as his shot curled against the far post. Howard might have scored twice more before the end.
When Galy Bennett, who opted last month to join Wrexham rather than Chesterfield, marked his appearance as substitute by driving in from the left, Mercer had to make his only save of the match.
