Oldham Athletic 3 Chesterfield 4
Chesterfield made hard work of their first round Alliance Cup tie against Oldham Athletic in a seven goal thriller which saw the Spireites throw away a two goal lead.
Ben Watkis returned back to fold after a recurring back problem limited his training time midweek, but attacking midfielder Tendayi Darikwa was absent with a knee injury gifting Shamus Beaglehole his first start of the season.
Conditions at Chapel Road were hardly practical for both teams, but that didn't seem to bother either side as a second round tie was up for grabs for the winner.
The Latics kicked off the match and were immediately the dominating force as Chesterfield were lucky not to be behind in the opening stages of the game.
Tony Philliskirk's side had chance upon chance of scoring due to poor defending by the Spireites, but the efforts of Scott Webb denied the home side an early break through.
Totally against the run of play, but no more than Chesterfield deserved, came a goal for Bentley's side after 23 minutes. Jake Hanbury's long ball up field proved to be too long for Jordan Burrow, but the constant pressure by both Burrow and Sam Smith resulted in the Oldham defender chipping his own goalkeeper from outside the box to gift the Spireites a fortunate lead.
Despite the jammy lead, Oldham still pressured and continued to penetrate the Spireite back four, with Webb again proving to stand between the Latics and an equaliser.
Left back Ryan Granger picked up a knock on the 30th minute mark and left the field for medical attention, but Chesterfield pressed and despite being a player down their tenacity paid off as they doubled their lead minutes later.
Josh Wright's bright play left Oldham on the back foot as his swinging cross was met by Beaglehole, who's sweetly struck right footed shot left the Latics number one helpless.
Yet again, despite Chesterfield putting another past the home side, Oldham continued to look for a way back into the match but Jimmy Adcock's last minute sliding tackle kept Chesterfield with the two goal lead as they went into half time break.
Careless defending by the Spireites straight after the interval cost Chesterfield not one, but two goals and handed Oldham a lifeline back into the game.
Poor marking off a corner gave the Oldham captain the chance to pull a goal back for his team and he didn't disappoint as a static Chesterfield allow him to do so.
Just two minutes later and the match was level, again down to poor marking, which allowed the Latics left winger to get behind Handbury and strike the ball past Webb at his near post.
However, Oldham's quick brace of goals didn't dampen the Spireites spirits and they looked for a way to get back infront, with Wright coming close to hitting the target.
Adcock's impressive performance was topped with a magnificent finish in the 63rd minute as he latched onto a fine Spireite attack and fired across the Latics number one.
Chesterfield's lead was short lived as Oldham levelled the game when a shot took a deflection after Sandy Moller attempted to close down and the ball ended up beating an already committed Webb.
With the match beginning to turn into an epic end to end encounter, Bentley's side went a head yet again in the game. A well worked corner involving Smith and Craig Clay tied up Moller, whose diving header was unstoppable to give the Spireites the lead with just 20 minutes left on the clock.
Both sides constantly pressed each other in search of that all important goal, Oldham looking to take the game into penalties and Chesterfield looking to put the match out of the Latics reach.
In the end, Chesterfield held on to progress into the second round despite a weak performance and will need to buck up their ideas if they are to go further in the competition.
Chesterfield (4-4-2): Webb, Granger (Edridge 31/Watkis 77), Handbury, Moller, Needham, Clay, Beaglehole, Adcock, Smith, Wright, Burrow
Subs not used: Palmer, West
Goals: Own Goal 23, Beaglehole 31, Adcock 63, Moller 70
Report by Adam Hulme, Spireites youth team reporter
