Chesterfield learn a 'good lesson' after goalless draw against Dover Athletic, says manager James Rowe

The Spireites had the best chances with Kabongo Tshimanga going close in the first-half and twice after the break through Liam Mandeville but overall they did not do enough to earn all three points.

However, the draw extends the Blues’ unbeaten run to five matches.

“We were nowhere near it,” Rowe said.

"It is a good lesson for us because you can’t turn it on at your leisure.

"At half-time we had a few words.

"Today I obviously picked the wrong team and they haven’t performed. However, great steel, great grit and great defending of the 18-yard box.

"We did not lose the game which is a positive. We take our medicine, we learn as a group, there has been some words in there and I can assure you there will be a reaction against Barnet on Tuesday.

"If it is not your day then you don’t lose the game and you keep a clean sheet which we did and I thought our back three were excellent.

"I want to give credit to Dover for their performance. They ran harder than us, they landed on second balls more than us, it is possibly the least amount of passes we have made in a game for a long time since I have been here.

"But also we were not good enough with the ball. We didn’t dominate the space, we didn’t dominate the ball and when you do that and you don’t tick your team objectives you are in trouble.

"We had two or three chances in the second-half where we should score, I can’t remember them having a clear-cut chance so it is credit to our back three who were up against it with long balls and set-plays.”

He added: "It is four out of five clean sheets but we can be a lot better.

"We need to prepare for Barnet and learn our lesson that we need to respect the opponent from the start. If you don’t do that, you can come undone.

"We have got to remember where we have come from, we are unbeaten in the first five so there are positives.”