Spireites Grind in Gillingham.

Chesterfield succeeded in securing victory by a 2-1 scoreline against Gillingham at Priestfield on Saturday afternoon. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Lee Novak netted first-half strikes, labelling Emmanuel Osadebe's second-half finish as a mere consolation.  

Danny Wilson made one alteration for this particular encounter, as Liam O'Neil took the place of Chris Herd who was unavailable due to injury. 

In the opening moments, Dominic Samuel broke free and fired narrowly wide of the post in a one-on-one situation with Tommy Lee when firmly expected to score. Ollie Banks attempted a volley from a considerable distance, which lacked the necessary power to trouble a goalkeeper of Stuart Nelson's quality.  

During a period of pressure for the Spireites, Novak finished past Nelson with an inch-perfect chip after finding space but the linesman's flag was raised for off-side. Max Ehmer picked up possession before turning and trying his luck from 12 yards, only for Banks to perform an all-important block on the line.  

Latching onto a neat through-ball allowed Rory Donnelly an opportunity to test Lee, although the forward fired straight into the arms of the visiting goalkeeper. On 37 minutes, Ebanks-Blake opened the scoring with a simple tap-in from six yards after connecting with Gboly Ariyibi's driven delivery.  

Just before the half-time whistle, Novak doubled the Spireites' lead with a ferocious strike from 25 yards which nestled straight into the top right-hand corner of the net.  

After the break, Samuel met a driven free-kick and forced a magnificent diving save to the left-hand side by the resolute Lee. Novak received the ball on the edge of the area and evaded his marker, prior to firing low and wide of the post 

Immediately involved after entering as a substitute, Luke Norris struck from range and forced a strong save from Lee. Conor Dimaio fed an intricate pass towards Declan John, who took one touch before firing wide of Nelson's post. 

With 81 minutes on the clock, the home side reduced the deficit through Osadebe's simple finish into an open net following a scramble inside the area. In the stages that followed and during the full four minutes of additional time, Gillingham continued to push but to no avail.