Chesterfield suffer shock heavy defeat to struggling Dorking Wanderers - how the action unfolded

The hosts, who started the day second from bottom, led 1-0 after nine minutes through Dan Pybus before Alfie Rutherford grabbed a second on 25 minutes.

Ash Palmer pulled a goal back just before half-time with a header but Tom Blair made it 3-1 immediately after the restart and then Rutherford added a fourth.

All four goals were soft and avoidable from a Blues point of view, with the two in the second-half coming from individual mistakes. Overall, Dorking wanted it more.

Town have been magnificent this season and they will win the title in the coming weeks but this was a bad day at the office.

Chesterfield still remain 20 points clear at the top with 10 games remaining.

The defeat means they will have to wait a bit longer to break club records for total wins and away victories in a season.

There were five changes to the Chesterfield starting line-up from the win against Barnet on Tuesday night. In came Jeff King, Darren Oldaker, Liam Mandeville, James Berry and Will Grigg for Ryheem Sheckleford, Mike Jones, Ollie Banks, Armando Dobra and Joe Quigley.

Three former Spireites in Joe Cook, Haydn Hollis, who was named man of the match, and Charlie Carter, all started for Dorking, who had the worst home form in the league going into the game.

Chesterfield have been brilliant this season but their first-half performance was poor and they could have been further behind had it not been for a string of saves from Harry Tyrer.

Dorking were much sharper in the opening stages and Tyrer had to parry from Carter. But from the resulting corner Pybus fired in a loose ball from just inside the area.

Wanderers continued to be the better side and they almost doubled their lead but Tyrer denied Carter with his legs.

Town were sluggish and they nearly fell victim to a swift counter-attack from their own corner. But again Tyrer came to the rescue as he smothered the ball when Josh Taylor tried to round him after going through one-on-one.

Dorking got a deserved second goal when Rutherford blasted into the bottom corner from the edge of the box after they didn’t deal with a headed clearance from Hollis.

Berry had a dangerous shot blocked down the other end, before Tyrer managed to get enough on Tom Blair’s low strike to see it out for a corner. From the resulting set-piece, Mandeville was forced to hack away off the line.

Chesterfield’s best passage of play ended with Mandeville’s shot being deflected wide for a corner. And that led to Town pulling a goal back as Palmer headed in from Mandeville’s cross.

Dorking will have been delighted and frustrated in equal measure at half-time because they could have been out of sight. But Palmer’s header had handed the Blues a lifeline.

But Wanderers regained their two-goal lead quickly after the break. Blair pounced on a loose pass across his own box by Jamie Grimes and he smashed in to make it 3-1. It was a goal that summed up the day for Chesterfield at that point.

Berry went close twice as Town tried to work their way back into the game. First, he headed wide from close-range from King’s cross. It was a chance he had to score. Next, he brought a parried save out of Harrison Male.

But it was soon 4-1 to Dorking when Rutherford forced a mistake from King and he ran through and slotted in.

Carter hit a post late on and Tyrer was forced to parry from Jason Prior as Dorking searched for a fifth.

It was a day to forget for the 800 travelling Spireites fans. But many still stayed behind after the full-time whistle to applaud the team and they will still be celebrating in the coming weeks.

Chesterfield: Tyrer; King, Palmer, Grimes, Clements; Oldaker (Hobson, 68), Naylor; Mandeville, Jacobs (Curtis, 68), Berry (Dobra, 68); Grigg.

Unused subs: Williams, Banks.