Chesterfield miss chance to go third after goalless draw at Maidenhead United

The Spireites dominated the majority of the game and had a brilliant chance to take the lead in the second-half when Andrew Dallas raced clear one-on-one but he fluffed his lines.

The draw extends Town’s unbeaten run to seven matches but they remain fourth with six games remaining.

The clean sheet is the Blues’ fourth in a row.

The draw means that Chesterfield have not won at York Road in five attempts since dropping down into the National League.

There was one change to the starting line-up from the win against Halifax as Paul McCallum replaced Joe Quigley. On the bench, Ryheem Sheckleford and Tyrone Williams came in for the injured Armando Dobra, and Brandon Horton.

The Spireites, kicking up the slope at York Road, zipped the ball around beautifully in the opening 20 minutes and put together some slick moves.

Dallas’ looping cross from the left clipped the top of the crossbar, while the impressive Ryan Colclough, who was giving Zico Asare the run around, had a dangerous shot blocked, as did Ollie Banks.

And it was the lively Colclough who came the closest to scoring when he forced home goalkeeper Alexis Andre Junior into parrying his fierce drive from inside the area.

Banks and Mike Jones were running the show in midfield, while Liam Mandeville was picking up the ball in little pockets of space behind the Magpies’ midfield.

Such was the Blues’ dominance in the first-half they racked up six corners and they would have been disappointed not to have led at the break.

Other than Ross Fitzsimons having to sweep up a couple of through-balls, the visitors had been untroubled.

Despite their dominance it was Maidenhead who almost took the lead five minutes after the break after a loose pass by Jamie Grimes was pounced upon by the Magpies but Shawn McCoulsky blazed over from around the penalty spot.

Minutes later Dallas had a glorious chance to put Chesterfield ahead when he raced clear one-on-one after a mistake by Sam Beckwith. The striker rounded goalkeeper Andre Junior and had an open goal to aim at but he fired wide. In his defence, the ball may have been running away from him on the sloped pitch.

The home side were threatening more now and McCoulsky broke through the backline and went past the outrushing Fitzsimons before pulling the ball back for top scorer Emile Acquah, who clipped the ball wide.

The Spireites wrestled back control of the game but with 15 minutes remaining they were struggling to create despite having lots of the ball. Maidenhead continued to play on the counter.

With 11 minutes remaining, Jesurun Uchegbulam and Quigley replaced Dallas and McCallum and soon after Darren Oldaker came on for Jones.

Jeff King had a dangerous late shot expertly blocked by Will De Havilland but the Spireites could not muster up any more chances and had to settle for a point.