Kabongo Tshimanga taken to hospital with serious-looking injury as Chesterfield concede late equaliser against Weymouth

Tshimanga, who has scored 25 goals this season, was on the end of a strong challenge from Haji Mnoga which went unpunished by referee Greg Rollason.

The injury caused a long delay and the Spireites conceded in the eighth minute of 12 added on to cancel out Alex Whittle’s opener.

The result means the Blues miss the opportunity to go top of the table and they stay second behind Stockport County.

The match was Paul Cook’s first in charge since being appointed this week, although his influence on the team selection and tactics was minimal.

On Tshimanga, coach Danny Webb said: “He has gone to hospital in an ambulance.

"It does not look good.

"It was a completely reckless challenge.

"He is in the right hands at the minute.

"I am sure everyone’s thoughts are with him and we are all hoping and praying for him that it is not that serious but at the moment it does not look great.

"It is a red card. If Jeff King’s (against Stockport) is a red card then this is a red card.

"I don’t think for one minute the lad would mean to do that to Kabs.

“It (the decision) is a bit baffling but at the minute I don’t want to get caught slaughtering officials when all our thoughts are with Kabs.”

Asked if the injury affected the players, Webb added: "At the time, yes. You can see it quite visibly. It is not nice when people from the home crowd are telling him to get up and get on with it and those lads have seen it up close.

"The gaffer came down and said keep calm.

"I don’t think it affected the result.

"It was a mistake for their goal. The manager has said we were just a little bit too open when they broke through.

"It is a horrible day for different reasons.”

Whittle gave Town the lead with 20 minutes remaining before Ahkeem Rose struck a late equaliser.

The Blues had some early chances but the performance overall was scrappy.

Asked if they deserved to win, Webb replied: "Yes. I don’t think we deserved it for playing fantastic and amazing football, but I thought we did enough to win it.

"But if you are open and you give the other team a chance to score then you are not helping yourself.

"I thought it was a horrible game of football.

"In the end it was a slip (by Fraser Kerr) and a mistake and they have gone through. Jamie Grimes has made the block and you think we have got away with it and then they put it in.

"To go 1-1 in the last kick of a game is a sickener.”

He added: "I think a lot of things could have been better, the pitch was not great but it was the same for both teams, we could have passed it better, done things a little bit quicker, decision-making could have been better at times, but they stuck with it.

"The gaffer has just said in there that everyone makes mistakes.

"We did not come here and lose, we would have loved to have won, we should have won, we didn’t, we are joint top and we have got a nice week of training ahead of Solihull Moors.

"It is one of those games where we have to come away with something, we got something, we would have loved it to be a win but given the circumstances I think you just take the point, pick Kabs up and go home.”