Point secured on the road

The Spireites failed to take their chances and were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw at the Racecourse Ground against fellow play-off hopefuls Wrexham.

Danny Rowe made his debut for Chesterfield, coming straight into the starting XI for Liam Mandeville.

Another three changes were made by James Rowe with Grant Smith, Joel Taylor and Jack Clarke replacing James Montgomery, Alex Whittle and Tom Whelan.

Taylor started the game by whipping a few dangerous crosses into the back post, looking for Kairo Mitchell, but the Wrexham defence did enough to clear the ball away.

Early on, both teams did well to cancel each other out. Laurence Maguire managed to stop Gold Omotayo breaking away down the right-hand side.

Rowe had a lively start to his Chesterfield career. In the 25th minute, he dinked the ball over the top of the defence for Mitchell to chase, tried to flick it goalwards and past Rob Lainton, but the goalkeeper managed to claw the ball away.

The hosts best chance of the first half came two minutes later. Omotayo looked to divert a cross in at the near post and Smith was there to bat the ball away.

Both sides defences kept coming out on top and reduced the chances to a minimum. The scores were level at the break.

The second half was mostly dominated by the Spireites. Mitchell received the ball on the edge of the box from Clarke two minutes into the half, turned and fired an effort towards goal which Lainton claimed.

Chances kept coming the Blues’ way. Maguire floated a cross into Mitchell that the forward just couldn’t direct on target.

Just after the hour-mark, Taylor struck the bar after trying to hook the ball back into the middle of the penalty area. Fraser Kerr latched onto the rebound, but it was cleared off the line.

Chesterfield continued to fight and look for that all-important goal with Whelan and Nathan Tyson coming on for Clarke and Mitchell with 20 minutes to go.

Tyson had two fantastic chances in the last five minutes. One a scintillating counter-attack that resulted in him shooting straight at Lainton and another where he latched on to Taylor’s cross and headed inches wide.

Unfortunately, the Spireites could not find that precious winning goal and were forced to settle for a goalless draw.

Chesterfield: Smith, Carline, Kerr, Gunning (C), Maguire, Taylor, Oyeleke, Weston, Clarke (Whelan 72), Mitchell (Tyson 72), Rowe.

Unused substitutes: Yarney, Mandeville & Yussuf.