With the 25th anniversary of Hillsborough in three days’ time, the 341 crowd stood in impeccable silence to pay tribute to the 96 football fans that lost their lives in Sheffield in 1989 with the game getting under way at 3.07pm as with hundreds of other games up and down the country.
Chasetown made a superb start and were on the front foot from the off. Jack Lees and Lee Butler, in particular, were looking lively and forcing a disrupted Sheffield defence onto the back foot.

It was therefore no surprise when the Scholars went ahead in the 17th minute. Joe Halsall received the ball and advanced through a static Sheffield back four and when stand-in goalkeeper Matt Roney – normally a right winger – stayed rooted to his line, Halsall had the simplest job to roll the ball square to Nick Wellecomme who couldn’t miss from inside the 6 yard box to net his 16th goal of the campaign.

Roared on by an enthusiastic home crowd though, the hosts gradually got themselves back into the game and will still wonder now how they didn’t equalise just after the half hour. Ben Algar’s cross from the left was met by a close range header from former Scholar Joel Purkiss and just about everyone expected the net to ripple but somehow debutant keeper John Bateman pulled off a brilliant point blank save to push the effort away.

Four minutes before the break, the Scholars conceded a free-kick just outside the area and Purkiss’ curling effort brushed the top of the crossbar on its way over.

Two minutes later though, Chasetown weren’t so fortunate. Another free kick, in almost identical territory, and this time Purkiss’ lowered the height of his free kick by a few inches to find the top corner of the net.

Sheffield were out of the traps faster in the second half and took the lead within 2 minutes of the restart. Steve Woolley’s first shot was blocked but he netted at the second attempt.

Chasetown’s best chance to restore parity came with twenty minutes remaining. Substitute Ramone Stephens burst forward down the inside right channel and teed up Jack Farmer, whose low cross along the six yard box was an agonising stud’s length away from a touch from Wellecomme at the near post.

The Scholars now have just three league games remaining – Rainworth (home, Saturday), Romulus (away, Easter Monday, 1pm) and title-chasing Coalville at home on the final day of the season – before a two-week wait before the Walsall Senior Cup Final at Banks’s Stadium on May 12th.

This defeat dropped Chasetown into 12th in the league, realistically the lowest they can finish, with 8th the highest they could manage.

Sheffield: Roney, Turner, Algar, Stirrup (Gascoigne, 58 mins), Hadfield, Whittaker, Woolley, Pemberton, Powell, Purkiss (Fereday, 67 mins), Gregory (Shirley, 84 mins)

Other Sub: Cardwell (not used)

Chasetown: John Bateman, Jack Farmer, Grant Beckett (Todd Evans, 77 mins), Jermaine Johnson, Tesfa Robinson, Joe Halsall, Lee Butler, Danny Bragoli (Ramone Stephens, 58 mins), Nick Wellecomme, Jack Lees (Danny Smith, 70 mins), Luke Chapman

Other Subs: Richard Teesdale, Curtis Pond (not used)