Spireites Defeated in Third Consecutive Fixture.

Chesterfield failed to overcome nine-man Peterborough United at the Proact Stadium on Saturday afternoon and fell to a 1-0 defeat. Tom Nichols struck for the visitors, with Chris Forrester and Ricardo Almeida-Santos being those dismissed prior to the conclusion of this contest.

Danny Wilson made three alterations for this particular encounter, as Tom Anderson, Gary Liddle and Chris Herd took the places of Charlie Raglan, Sam Morsy and Gboly Ariyibi.

In the opening moments, Drew Talbot tried his luck from the edge of area and watched his effort sail waywardly wide of the post. Liddle took aim from a similar distance and was denied by a last-ditch block, which earned his side a corner-kick.

Taking the initiative, Shaquile Coulthirst latched onto a neat through-ball and fired straight at Tommy Lee who produced a vital save with the assistance of his right knee. Lee Novak found space and struck from 12 yards, but Ben Alnwick held firm before instigating an attack for the visitors.

Looking to open the scoring, Erhun Oztumer fired from range and watched his effort strike the crossbar after beating Lee all-ends-up. Dion Donohue received a short pass from Jay O'Shea and prepared to shoot, only for a defensive tackle to take the ball from under his feet and bring an end to the attack.

Just before the half-time whistle, O'Shea's shot from close range sailed straight into the stands.

After the break, Rai Simons marked his introduction with an individual run that earned his side a free-kick on the edge of the area which then came to nothing. On 55 minutes, Nichols reacted quickest inside the area to net a simple tap-in from the short distance of six yards.

Two minutes later, Forrester was awarded his second yellow card of the afternoon following a late challenge on O'Shea near the 18-yard line. Liam O'Neil met a loose ball on the edge of the area and struck wide of the post, much to the frustration of the home support.

With 78 minutes on the clock, Almeida-Santos was booked for a second time as a consequence of a late challenge on Simons and the visitors were reduced to nine men. Despite this, the remaining 12 minutes of normal time along with an additional seven minutes served no purpose as the Spireites failed to take advantage of a numerical advantage and ultimately fell to defeat.