Walsall reached their second play-off final and their second visit to Wembley after a narrow 2-1 win over the Spireites with all three goals coming in the final stages.
Charlie Lakin put the Saddlers ahead after 81 minutes only for Armando Dobra to level in the fourth minute of added time.
A draw would never have been enough but it would have seemed some reward for a strong dominant performance, but instead Walsall scored a winner literally with the last kick of the game to deny the Spireites.
Two gritty play-off performances showed how far the team has progressed this season and despite defeat everyone can be proud of their achievements in their first season back in the EFL.
The Spireites arrived at the Poundland Bescot Stadium with a two goal deficit in the League Twice play-off clash.
Paul Cook chose to make three changes to the starting line-up from the team that began the match five days earlier. In came Ollie Banks, Dobra and Bim Pepple. Michael Olakigbe, Will Grigg and Ryan Colclough made way.
Certainly the fans hadn’t given up on the tie, the 1,000 tickets allocation that Walsall provided sold out online in just two minutes.
Those fans were determined to make themselves heard and s greeted the Chesterfield team onto the pitch with a deafening form wall of noise. The Spireites kicked off defending the end that housed their travelling support.
The Spireites looked lively from the off but the home side were just as determined and claimed the game’s first clear chance as Jamie Jellis was put clear on the right and ran straight for goal, his close-range effort was blocked well by Ryan Boot who conceded the first of three quick corners.
Dobra showed his pace and guile but was blocked; moments later Pepple tried his luck with a mazy run that brought only a free-kick.
Jenson Metcalfe went close as he hit well from 25 yards; his shot was on target but a home defender managed to head clear.
The game was being played at a fast pace with both teams taking it in turns to threaten. The Spireites went close again after a sustained period of possession;
Pepple got the final touch to a neat three-man move but his downward header was claimed well by Tommy Simkin.
Moments later Walsall won a free kick in a dangerous position but Jamie Jellis couldn’t get any direction to his hit from 30 yards.
Another flurry of corners produced little but a Metcalfe run on the right and a Liam Mandevile ball in produced chaos in the home penalty with at least three Chesterfield players just failing to poke the bobbling ball home.
The Spireites continued to press and Dobra hit well from the edge of the area; Simkin held the effort cleanly. Immediately after Dobra played a great ball in for Tom Naylor who lost his footing on the goal-line.
From the next move Walsall broke well and saw Jellis hit cleanly but not strongly enough to test Boot.
With seven minutes to the interval, Pepple chased a long ball that required the home keeper Simkin to come out of his area; the two collided and Pepple picked up a talking to from referee Ben Toner as Simkin stayed down for treatment.
In the last minute of the half, Pepple, again, burst into the area but just as it looked as if he was about to shoot he stumbled and the ball ran to safety. Three added minutes were awarded but no further threat came from either side.
At the interval Chestertfield will have felt they should have made their huge possession advantage count; they’d had over 75% of the ball and, after weathering the early storm from the home side, dominated the 30 minutes before the break but had to settle for parity at the break.
Walsall resumed strongly and dominated the early exchanges of the second half but Chesterfield slowly, as they did in the first half, grew into the game.
Walsall broke but Metcalfe picked up Chesterfield’s first yellow card after he unnecessarily pulled the shirt of George Hall.
Chesterfield fans thought their team had taken the lead after 53 minutes. Metcalfe hit home to Simkin’s right but the referee, correctly, spotted he’d controlled the ball with his arm.
Taylor Allen earned a yellow card after a confrontation with Banks.
At the mid-point Chesterfield made a double change Grigg and Jack Sparkes joined the action as Metcalfe and Lewis Gordon made way. Sparkes immediately floated over one of his trademark crosses from the left that caused danger but his itemsnext for a free-kick forced Simkin to punch to safety.
Walsall were restricted to breaks and great run from Hall on the left set up ex-Spireite Levi Anantchi who looked certain to score. Boot read well and saved the day.
Colclough and Dylan Duffy were thrown into the mix with 15 minutes remaining but with ten minutes remaining Walsall took the lead on the night when substitute Charlie Lakin made a great run to get his head to a superb cross from the right. His close range score was so cruel on the Spireites who had dominated but failed to convert their chances.
Amantchi was proving to be a real handful and hit just inches wide of Boot’s left upright.
The Spireite gained a corner as the additional five minutes were announced; the end result was Colclough blazing over the bar.
Three minutes later Dobra poked home from six yards to level the tie on the night but straight from the kick-off Walsall regained the lead after Amantchi converted substitutes Albert Adomah’s cross.
A premature pitch invasion followed and took several minutes to clear the pitch of fans and smoke bombs. Eventually the referee decided to resume; five seconds later, he blew for full time and cue a second pitch invasion.
It was tough on the Spireites who had dominated possession throughout but had lacked the clinical finishing needed to earn them their reward instead the game ended in a narrow defeat and a scoreline that didn’t reflect the balance of play.
Spireites: Boot, Mandeville (Colclough 75), Palmer, McFadzean, Gordon (Sparkes 67), Fleck , Metcalfe (Grigg 67), Naylor (Jacobs 82), Dobra, Banks (Duffy 75), Pepple
Unused subs: Thompson, Grimes.
Referee: Ben Toner
Attendance: 9,585
