Chesterfield hold on for win

Chesterfield survived a late rally by Sheffield United to win a full-blooded local derby 3-2 at the Proact Stadium.

Michael Higdon was red carded after Jimmy Ryan put Chesterfield ahead and goalkeeper Tommy Lee was dismissed for the home side before Gary Roberts struck just before the break. Eoin Doyle's 13th goal of the season made it three but efforts from Marc McNulty and Neill Collins set up a grandstand finish. Chesterfield stunned the visitors with a superb goal in the 26th minute when Jay O'Shea laid the ball off to Ryan 25 yards out and the midfielder sent an unstoppable shot inside Mark Howard's right-hand post. It got worse for United three minutes later when Higdon went in late on Daniel Jones and was shown a red card by referee Mark Brown but Lee was sent off in the 40th minute for bringing down Ryan Flynn on the edge of the box. But the hosts netted again a minute before half-time when Roberts intercepted a pass from debutant Paddy McCarthy and went clear to roll a shot inside Howard's left post. Chesterfield added a third in the 73rd minute when the prolific Doyle netted from close range after a Daniel Johnson shot was blocked before a mistake by teenage shot-stopper Myles Wright allowed McNulty to pull one back nine minutes from time. Collins headed in a free-kick in stoppage time but the Spireites held on for a thrilling victory.