Both sides selected line-ups unchanged from their previous League matches, although Chesterfield replaced the suspended Jamie Winter with Jamie Jackson on their bench.
Chesterfield started the game more brightly and took an early lead when a Leven free came Robertson; his cross was headed back into the danger area by Downes and ROONEY pounced to shoot home despite the attempted parry by Lee.
Macclesfield responded immediately and dominated the remainder of the half. Kovacs fouled Levi Reid some thirty yards out on 12 and Bastians was booked as the free kick was taken, apparently for rushing out of the wall too early, although it looked as though the taker had tapped the ball to a team-mate before the Chesterfield man set off.
Macc got closer to an equaliser with bright and effective attacking play. Green shot wide under an important Downes challenge on 17 and Dimech was presented with a free header from a corner, but wasted the chance.
Gritton went into the book for a foul on Kovacs on 27 but his disappointment turned to joy a minute later when he popped up to equalise. Thomas and the lively Green combined to get the ball over from deep on the Spireites' right and it went knee-high through the defence to GRITTON at the back stick. He may have shinned it in, but it was worth the same as a 40-yarder screamer! It was no more than the visitors deserved.
Two minutes later the Silkmen should have taken the lead but Robertson pulled out a remarkable, goal-saving tackle on Green under the crossbar. The central defence was being pulled about by Green and Downes brought him down on 35, but Niven went into the book, presumably for dissent, although that presupposes that the referee can understand a broad Scots brogue.
The home side's midfield sensed the problems that their back line were having and instinctively fell a little too deep. That allowed the likes of Roberts and Levi Reid to come forward to good effect. Dunfield wasted a good chance on 38, firing over, and Chesterfield fashioned two half-chances as the half closed, Rooney turning his man well but firing in with his wrong foot from the edge of the box, and Lester firing wide after taking a long pass from Niven.
Chesterfield began the second half like they started the first. McNulty hacked at a Robertson cross and put it high in the air over his own six yard box, and Chesterfield regained the lead on 47 when Leven had a shot blocked; it came to Picken, who shot from 25 yards. Lee went down to his right but it was going wide until ROONEY stuck out a measured boot and directed it into the opposite corner of the goal. On 49 a Spireite corner was headed back by Downes and cleared, but only as far as Bastians, whose wicked, dipping shot tested Lee, who managed to tip it over.
Murray was booked for dissent, probably, on 51 and Dimech finally made it in to the ref's notebook on 58, but he had to cart Lester down on the edge of the box and in spectacular fashion to persuade the ref to take action. The foul was so "on the edge of the box" that the divot it produced was a few inches inside it! More of Macc's 13 fouls were committed by the ex-Stag and he might easily have found his way into the book of an occasionally erratic ref before then.
Bastians spotted the late run of Niven at a corner on 63 and found him; the Scot helped it on to Rooney, by the post, but the ball was somehow hustled clear. Wiles replaced Levi Reid on 65 and immediately made an impact, forcing Roche into an excellent point-blank, reflex save.
Leven limped out of the game on 69, unable to shake off the effects of Dimech trampling on him after an earlier tackle, and the spark of Chesterfield's measured play and creativity went with him. Wiles went past Robertson and Kovacs before shooting across goal and wide, but the respite was only temporary and a second Macclesfield equaliser inevitably came. Wiles again did the damage, finding GREEN on the home side's left; his measured shot left Roche wrong-footed and found its target.
O'Hare replaced the tiring Bastians on 77. Chesterfield came close-ish to a third goal when Lester latched on to Roche's big boot but he shot at the keeper; otherwise, when the service found him, he was effectively shackled by McNulty throughout. Both sides continued to look for a winner after Evans replaced Gritton on 89; Wiles had a powerful shot parried by Roche on 90 and Niven forced a save out of Lee in stoppage time.
If the game had to have a winner then it should have been the visitors who were the better side, overall. Their pace and movement made the most of a game featuring simple but accurate and effective passing; they came to do more than shut up shop and, for that attitude alone, deserve to do well away from home. Chesterfield could never sustain much creative play of their own; no-one played particularly badly but no-one caught the eye, either, and there was no drive, especially after Leven was forced off. The defence was often rendered shapeless by Green's running and the forwards- Lester especially - received too little of the right service.
