The Spireites were undone by another late goal as they fell to a second successive 2-1 defeat, losing against Stockport County at the Technique Stadium.
John Pemberton made one change from midweek with Luke Rawson making his first league start for Chesterfield in place of Alex Kiwomya. Nathan Tyson returned to the bench following his injury.
The first effort of the game almost resulted in a goal in the first minute. Tom Denton let fly from just outside the box, but his speculative effort whistled wide of the post.
Denton thought he had given the home side the lead after taking the ball down and slotting home. The flag of the assistant referee denied the striker as he strayed into an offside position.
Just two minutes later, Stockport took the lead. Mark Kitching picked the ball up on the left and lashed the ball past Kyle Letheren from 20-yards.
The score was levelled ten minutes before the end of the half by an unlikely source. Jordan Cropper received the ball on the edge of the box, after pinball in the area, and hammered the ball low and into the bottom right corner.
The Spireites were denied the lead once more by the official’s flag; Denton headed home from close-range only to have another goal chalked off.
Moments before the end of the first half, the away side wasted a golden chance. Letheren made himself big to deny Jordan Keane from point-blank range.
The opening chance of the second period fell to Luke Rawson; the forward tried to find the target from a difficult angle, but Ben Hinchliffe was equal to it.
Stockport found their first chance of the second half five minutes after the hour mark. Sam Minihan’s low cross was glanced just wide at the near post by Connor Jennings.
The away side came a whisker away from taking the lead with ten minutes to go when Alex Reid and Jennings were denied by Lethern and Milan Butterfield respectively.
However, the visitors took the lead with just five minutes to go. A manic scramble in the penalty area eventually was headed in via the crossbar by Reid.
The Spireites battled hard to find a late equaliser; Denton’s header was held by Hinchliffe. The final whistle sounded a few moments later to signal a second successive defeat.
Chesterfield: Letheren, Cropper, Sharman, Evans, Maguire, Buchanan (Kiwomya 82), Weston (Butterfield 69), Smith, Mandeville, Rawson (Tyson 58), Tom Denton.
Unused substitutes: Wharton & Tyler Denton.
