Report by North Derbyshire Radio’s Senior Football Correspondent Ben Smith
Chesterfield fought from behind to claim a point for the second successive game as their League Two clash with Port Vale finished 1-1 at the SMH Group Stadium.
Armando Dobra brought the Spireites level following a second half red card for Mitch Clark, that after Jayden Stockley had opened the scoring early on.
Paul Cook’s side arrived at Saturday’s game looking to build on a solid away showing at Grimsby Town last time out, but suffered a nightmare start as Stockley poked home with less than two minutes on the clock.
After bobbling around for a while the ball eventually fell to the Vale striker in the area, who did well to squeeze his effort both through a crowd of bodies and just inside the post.
The most likely sight at a leveller before the break came midway through the half, when Liam Mandeville’s ball across the box was spilled by Ben Amos, only for the visiting ‘keeper to spring up well to deny Tom Naylor’s subsequent effort.
But if the early stages of the first period had left the hosts in danger of a fifth defeat in six in all competitions, the start of the second threw them a significant lifeline as Clark received his marching orders shortly after the restart.
And those in blue set about taking swift advantage of their numerical superiority, as Naylor, Darren Oldaker and then Dobra all went close in quick succession.
Indeed, it would be the latter of that trio on target when that pressure finally told with 14 minutes to go, as he capitalised on an undercooked clearance to break into the box before calmly finishing into the bottom corner.
The territorial dominance would continue throughout the remainder of the contest but there were to be no more goals, meaning Chesterfield’s wait for a first win of 2025 stretches on to Tuesday night’s home fixture against Bromley.
