Chesterfield 1-1 Gillingham: Scrappy Gills battle back for a point on the road

In a match that was dominated for long spells by the hosts, Gillingham managed to stay in the contest. Then, when their chance came, they took it to take a point back home to Kent after a scrappy 90 minutes in Derbyshire.

The first half was all Chesterfield, with Dilan Markanday, Liam Mandeville and on loan Josh Koroma all looking dangerous from the early stages as they dominated the opening 45 minutes.

Koroma broke the deadlock for the hosts on 22 minutes as he curled a well-placed shot around Nick Freeman and into the far corner of the net. But, despite creating a plethora of additional chances throughout the first half, the Spireites couldn't add to their lead as shots missed the target, and those that found their mark were well saved by the excellent Ollie Wright in the Gills goal.

The second half started similarly to the first, with Chesterfield on top, but with James Brophy dropping deeper into midfield, Gillingham started to get more possession. Their play remained scrappy and low in quality, with an alarming amount of misplaced passes, but the overall game felt much more competitive than it did in the opening 45.

Chances for the visitors were still at a premium, but Gillingham made one count on 57 minutes, when Ronan Hale took advantage of Jack Simpson's misjudgement of a ball over the top, the Gills striker was pulled down by the defender.

Had he stayed down, the referee would have had a big decision to make. But instead, Hale fought his way back up, regained possession, and fired into the net via a deflection off former Gills wing-back Remeao Hutton.

A couple of forays forward through substitute Garath McCleary aside, Gillingham were forced to spend most of the last 20 minutes defending, as Chesterfield piled players forward in search of a late winner.

But, despite substitutes Fraser Bryden and Louie Marsh narrowly missing the target, and Wright saving well from Mandeville, the hosts couldn't get past Gillingham's stubborn rearguard action as Gareth Ainsworth's side claimed a hard-fought draw in Derbyshire.