Two wins out of two in the north east for Chesterfield​ HC

Mexican Alex Sandoval scored five goals over the weekend on his return from international duty, including a superb hat-trick against North Shields on Saturday.

Debutant Xavier Ortiz also made an immediate impact, capping a player of the match performance against Durham University with a fine goal to help secure the points.

Saturday saw Chesterfield pushed all the way by a highly-organised North Shields side battling the drop.

Teenager Luke Nash opened the scoring for the visitors, before skipper Jon Moores and Sandoval’s hat-trick added further goals.

Despite a red card on the stroke of half time, the hosts threw everything they had at the game.

It took a resilient defensive effort, plus the quality of Chesterfield’s counter attacking, to see the game out for a final score of 3-5.

On Sunday, Chesterfield once again were made to work for the points at Durham University.

Skipper Jon Moores broke the deadlock before Sandoval scored two fine goals. Durham pulled a goal back but Ortiz made sure of the win with a well placed finish.

The two wins move Chesterfield back up to into third place, eight points behind Sheffield Bankers in second place.

Coach Christian Battye was quick to praise the team.

He said: “I’ve absolutely loved watching them play this weekend. The commitment shown has been fantastic.

"That includes people missing work, being away from their partners and parents giving up their entire weekend.

"All of these things added up to a great experience and the boys should take pride in how they’ve represented the club.

On how the last few weeks have gone for his side, Battye believes the club’s long-term aims haven’t changed.

He said: “It hasn’t been an easy period for us on or off the pitch, we’d gone a few games without winning a match which naturally affects confidence and belief.

"This weekend has been a great chance for the lads to sit down and reassess their short term goals. We got together and asked each other ‘what do you want?’.

"Our long term aims haven’t changed, we are still working to make our side the best culture and environment we can possibly make it. The boys are trying to get better at every training session and improve as players.

"But short term we’ve had to adjust slightly. Whilst we know promotion is highly unlikely all we can do is keep trying to perform to the highest standards in every match. The great thing is we can’t worry about anyone else, only focus on what we do”.

This weekend Chesterfield host league league leaders Sheffield Hallam.