Chesterfield launch stunning second-half comeback to beat local rivals Mansfield Town

Chesterfield came from two goals down to stun local rivals Mansfield Town in their most thrilling win of the season,

Trailing 3-1 just after the hour mark, a brace from Dylan Duff and a goal from skipper Tom Naylor turned the Jersey Mike’s Trophy derby on its head in the space of eight minutes.

A Liam Mandeville penalty completed a 5-3 win in front of 1,700 jubilant travelling Spireites.

Amid the excitement, they won the group and earned a home tie in the knockout stages.

Despite huge vocal backing, Chesterfield had been slower out of the traps at the start.

The match was only 13 minutes old when, amidst hesitancy in the back line, goalkeeper Zach Hemming sent Mansfield’s George Maris to ground and Jon Russell stepped up to send him the wrong way from the penalty spot.

It meant it was the team’s tenth successive match without a clean sheet.

A hard task got harder seven minutes later. Luke Bolton fizzed in a low centre and Russell slid in to score his second at the far post.

The goals deflated the big away following and the players.

A stray pass from Dilan Markanday nearly let the Stags in for a third and there were only fleeting glimpses of goal for Chesterfield until they were handed a lifeline right on half time.

A home defender slipped on the turf and Joel Randall seized on the loose ball to clip it over goalkeeper Harry Lewis and into the net. It was the Bolton Wanderers loanee’s second goal in as many games.

The starting line-up showed ten changed from the FA Cup win over Yeovil, with only Hemming retaining his place.

The stopper partly atoned for giving away the penalty by making a smart double save from Luke Bolton soon after the restart.

The game look just after the hour mark when Regan Hendry tapped in Mansfield’s third after Michael Smith’s shot came back off a post.

The Spireites looked dead and buried. Then came the comeback.

A minute later, Duffy lit the blue touchpaper on the comeback with a screamer of a shot that glanced in off the far post.

Five minutes later the scores were level when skipper Naylor - Mansfield born - converted Tom Pearce’s cross.

The stunned hosts were only just digesting that blow when the comeback was complete. Markanday fed Duffy and the winger took aim again to find the far bottom corner of the net in front of the delirious travelling fans.

The closing stages were tense. Chesterfield twice hacked off their own goal-line but the gloss was put on the scoreline on 88 minutes.

They won a penalty and substitute Mandeville rammed it home to make it 5-3.

It took a finger-tip save to prevent sub Louie Marsh making it six, and then the width of a post, but that would perhaps have been greedy.

What a game. What a result.

Chesterfield: (4-2-3-1): Hemming; Eccleston, Naylor (capt), McFadzean, Pearce; Lamptey, McEachran (Mandeville 79); Markanday (Dyer 79), Randall (Marsh 65), Duffy; Bryden (Koroma 65)

Mansfield: Lewis, Bolton, Blake-Tracy, Knoyle, McLaughlin, Dodgson, Maris (Taylor 46), Hewitt, Hendry, Russell, Smith

Referee: Sam Mulhall

Attendance: 5,233