Allen happy with Chesterfield display in FA Cup draw

The Spireites took the lead early in the first half through Laurence Maguire but were pegged back after the break by an Emmanuel Moses wonderstrike. READ THE REPORT HERE.

Allen's men put together wave after wave of attack but came up against a goalkeeper, in Alan Julian, who was in magnificent form.

He and his defenders kept out several goalbound efforts in an increasingly frantic rearguard action that ultimately secured a replay.

"Fair play to them, they also had a couple of chances," said Allen.

"It wasn't totally one way traffic.

"We did have enough chances to have won that game.

"Fair play to the players, they kept going right to the end.

"The opponents put their bodies on the line.

"It was a great FA Cup tie."

Before the game Allen promised a change in style, with his more 'technical' attackers starting the game in an attempt to play more eye catching football.

He hopes supporters will recognise that.

"I thought we played very, very well.

"We've tried to adapt our style and I thought that was there for everyone to see.

"We played some really good stuff.

"On September 25th we had the most horrendous game. I vowed then to change it, we played zero risk football, back to front football.

"The players bought into that and did remarkably well.

"Over the last few weeks we've tried to add more passing and fluency.

"This week we've worked on that all week.

"I thought the players absorbed it.

"They could have been better at times, but it's a kind of a start.

"I thought the supporters quite enjoyed watching that performance."

What didn't please the Spireites boss was the marking that led to the Billericay leveller.

Moses was able to get past Haydn Hollis before sending a searing shot past Callum Burton to level on 52 minutes.

"It was a great goal from their point of view, from ours it was a poor challenge.

"Didn't need to squeeze and try and head it there, no one has ever scored from there with their back to goal, apart from Thierry Henry.

"Keep the player in front of you, let him have the ball in front of you and defend when he tries to turn either side.

"That was an unbelievable goal."

Allen admitted he and his players were disappointed not to have won the first round proper tie at the first attempt, but staying in Monday night's draw was important.

"We did say towards the end of this game when we were attacking, we cannot get beaten on the counter attack, we have to stay in it until the draw.

"What I didn't want to happen was losing on the counter attack.

"We made sure we kept our discipline and learned from our mistakes earlier in the season.

"We want to be in the draw on Monday night and now we've got another opportunity a week on Tuesday."