Chesterfield held by 10-man Salford City in League Two - report

In a tight encounter, James Berry opened the scoring on 69 minutes, curling into the bottom corner from inside the area, for his third goal of the season.

Immediately after the restart, Curtis Tilt was sent off after two quick bookings, but substitute Kelly N’Mai equalised with Salford’s first goal of the campaign with five minutes of normal time remaining.

The draw means Town are undefeated in their first three games back in League Two but they will be a tad disappointed not to have seen this one out.

Unsurprisingly, the Spireites were unchanged from the 5-0 win at Crewe last weekend but Branden Horton and Tim Akinola came into the squad, replacing Harvey Araujo and Mike Jones on the bench.

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs, who has a 10% stake in Salford City, was in attendance at the SMH Group Stadium. Karl Robinson’s side came into this clash with no wins or goals in their first four games of the season and their best openings in the first-half came from the hosts’ mistakes more than anything else. Conor McAleny failed to take advantage of Ryan Boot’s scuffed clearance and then the same player fired wide when well positioned after being teed up by former Liverpool youngster Ben Woodburn.

Chesterfield had played well generally and had control but had not created a lot of chances themselves. Berry headed over at the back post from Vontae Daley-Campbell’s cross early on, Dilan Markanday had a dangerous shot deflected over after more good play by Berry, while Chey Dunkley was close to heading in Tom Naylor’s flick-on at the near post from a corner.

The game continued to be tight heading towards the hour-mark, with just one half chance for Berry, whose volley at the back post was blocked.

The visitors were more aggressive and physical in the second-half and it boiled over as the match progressed. There was a flashpoint on the halfway line when Josh Austerfield took out Armando Dobra. Chesterfield’s fans and bench were unhappy and claimed for a red card, but referee Richie Watkins opted for just a yellow. And soon after Dobra was on the end of another rough tackle as tempers flared.

Those challenges riled-up the Spireites and the home fans and but they were cheering when they made the breakthrough on 69 minutes when Berry found the bottom corner with a lovely curling finish. And seconds later Salford suffered another blow when Tilt received two quick bookings and he was sent off.

But despite being a man down the away side equalised with five minutes remaining when N’Mai got the better of Tom Naylor and cut inside on his right foot and found the bottom corner possibly via a small deflection off Chey Dunkley.

There were late chances for Dobra and Ollie Banks in eight minutes of added-time but the points were shared in the end.

Chesterfield: Boot; Daley-Campbell, Naylor, Dunkley, Gordon; Oldaker, Banks; Markanday (Jacobs, 77), Dobra, Berry (Hobson, 83); Grigg (Quigley, 83)

Unused subs: Jessop, Williams, Horton, Akinola.