Chesterfield slump to 15th after defeat against Port Vale

Chesterfield were defeated by fellow mid-table team Port Vale by three goals to two at Vale Park on Saturday afternoon. The Port Vale goals coming from Sam Kelly, AJ Leitch-Smith and Louis Dodds, with Lee Novak and Rai Simons netting for the Spireites.

This sees Chesterfield fall to 15th with their second defeat on the bounce and now sit just six-points away from the drop zone but still only seven-points from the play-off spots. 

Dean Saunders made one change from the team that faced Oldham at the Proact with Sam Hird coming in for Drew Talbot at right back.

After a blistering start which saw three goals in the opening ten minutes. The first goal coming from Sam Kelly with just six minutes played when he smashed a shot from outside the area to beat to put the home side 1-0 up. 

Then just three minutes later on loan striker Lee Novak hit his fourth goal in Spireites colours with a volley from close range to level the scores at 1-1 after a surging run from captain Sam Morsy. Then just one minute later Vale once again take the lead with AJ Leitch-Smith scoring another close range volley to make it 2-1.

Novak was again in the action when he shot from distance but his effort went well wide of Vale keeper Jak Alnwick's post. The next Chesterfield attempt came from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake when he struck an effort just outside the area only for it to be bravely blocked by the Port Vale defence.

Then, on the 44th minutes the Spireites put the ball in the back of the net when on loan defender Richard Wood slotted the ball home into an unguarded goal, but this was ruled out as the linesman's flag was raised for off-side.

Straight after half time Vale increased their lead when Louis Dodds shot from distance and saw his shot whistle into the bottom corner to further increase the home teams lead. 3-1.

Jay O'Shea then went on a solo run through the Port Vale defence, lined up an effort, shot and saw his attempt end up in the stands. O'Shea was again in the action when his beautifully weighted free-kick was met by the head of Lee Novak who managed to loop his header up goal-wards only to see Vale keeper Jak Alnwick make an absolute wonder save!

In the final stages Sylvan Ebanks-Blake hit wide when it would have been easier to score after good work from Gboly Ariyibi. During added on time young striker Rai Simons slammed an effort into the top corner of the Vale goal, 3-2! This proved to only be a consolation goal for the Spireites. 

Dean Saunders: ''We dominated the game'' ''We can get 6 points out of the next two games, there's no reasons why we can't''

Port Vale: Alnwick (GK) (Neal 80), Dickinson, McGivern, Duffy, Dodds, Foley, Yates, Kelly (Daniel 87), Moore, Leitch-Smith, Grant.

Unused Substitutes: Purkiss, Streete, Birchall, Ikpeazu, Hooper.

Chesterfield: Lee (GK), Hird, Evatt, Wood (Simons 73), Jones, Herd (Banks 68), Morsy, Gardner (Ariyibi 60), O'Shea, Novak, Ebanks-Blake.

Unused Substitutes: Cairns (GK), Talbot, O'Neil, Dieseruvwe.

Attendance: 4,402