Jones scores as Latics earn vital win

GOAL . . . Mike Jones

ATHLETIC 1, CHESTERFIELD 0

MIKE Jones scored to hand Athletic a vital victory in their battle against relegation.

The substitute, who came on for injury victim Amadi-Holloway, took a touch to get the ball out of his feet on the right.

He then fired in an accurate right-foot shot from 22 yards out which fizzed past Tommy Lee in the Spireites goal.

It lifted the frustration around SportsDirect.com Park in an instant and also served to push Athletic to within a whisker of climbing out of the relegation zone for the first time since November.

Amadi-Holloway, a talisman up front in recent weeks, had landed awkwardly when challenging for a header and was unable to continue.

Earlier, he was only a stretch away from connecting with a Jonathan Forte cross-shot in a first half which also saw Matt Palmer drive a foot wide from 20 yards out and, two minutes before the interval, Curtis Main test Lee's reflexes with a sharp left-footed drive.

The second half was a scrappy, sterile affair up to Amadi-Holloway succumbing to injury.

Then came Jones's bolt from the blue, followed up seconds later by a lobbed effort from fellow substitute Timmy Thiele which Lee had to back-pedal to tip over.

Athletic came under intense pressure in the final stages, but just about held on.