Chesterfield rue missed chances as Barnet's Nicke Kabamba nets hat-trick - how it happened

Nicke Kamamba, a reported transfer target for the Spireites this week, scored a hat-trick to extend the Bees’ unbeaten league run to eight matches.

The Spireites had several good opportunities throughout the game but they lacked a clinical edge and conceded some soft goals to compound their misery.

With leaders Wrexham in FA Cup action this weekend, this was a missed opportunity for Town to try and close the gap at the top as they slipped to their first defeat in five in the league.

Chesterfield’s overall performance was not as bad as the scoreline suggests, but they were not ruthless enough in both boxes.

Paul Cook made three changes from the win against Altrincham in midweek. Ryan Colclough was handed his first start, while Darren Oldaker and Tim Akinola also came in. This was the first time that Liam Mandeville had not started in the league since October. Ollie Banks and Akwasi Asante also dropped out. Kabongo Tshimanga was not included in the matchday squad for the second successive game amid transfer speculation ahead of Tuesday’s deadline day.

The Spireites, lining-up in a 4-3-3 formation, were behind at half-time but they had some good chances of their own in what had been an entertaining and end-to-end encounter at times.

Joe Quigley had a soft header easily saved by Bees goalkeeper Laurie Walker and the striker came close again but he could not connect with Ash Palmer’s header back across goal.

More chances came as Armando Dobra shot straight at Walker from inside the area after being found by Quigley, Colclough’s inviting low cross just needed to be touched home and Jamie Grimes headed on target from a corner.

The best two chances fell to Palmer and Akinola. First, Jeff King’s corner delivery fell to the centre-back but his goal-bound shot from close-range was superbly blocked. After going behind, a swift counter saw Dobra cross for Akinola but Walker was there again to save with his legs.

Down the other end, Lucas Covolan had made two excellent reaction saves from Harry Pritchard and Sam Woods and a more routine one from Kabamba.

Barnet’s main threat was coming from some near-post corner deliveries and that is how the opener came from as Kabamba was credited with the goal following Ryan De Havilland’s delivery.

Town trailed at the break but there was still plenty to play for going into the second-half.

And they thought they had an equaliser straight after half-time but King’s effort was not deemed to have crossed the line after Dobra slipped him in inside Barnet’s box.

Just after the hour, Colclough had a brilliant opportunity to equalise after great work by Dobra down the right but he failed to connect properly.

The chances kept on coming as King failed to make the most of a promising position and then Colclough had a shot parried by Walker.

And the Blues were punished as Kabamba outmuscled substitute Ollie Banks before firing in on 77 minutes and then he completed his hat-trick late on with another emphatic finish.