Spireites Fall to Narrow Defeat Against Coventry City.

Chesterfield fell to a 1-0 defeat against Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena this afternoon, as Adam Armstrong netted in the second period to earn his side a home victory. Emmanuel Dieseruvwe was dismissed in the closing stages after a second bookable offence, which obviously added insult to injury for the Spireites.

Dean Saunders made a total of four changes from last Saturday's draw at home to Colchester United, as Chris Herd, Sam Hird, Liam O'Neil and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake took the places of the Drew Talbot, Charlie Raglan, Ollie Banks and Gboly Ariybi.

In the opening moments, Armstrong tried his luck from the edge of the area only for Hird to produce a resolute block to deny the opposing forward. Involved once again, Armstrong looked destined to score after going one-on-one with Lee but managed to fire the ball straight into the stands from close range.

Moments later, Jim O'Brien found himself in an almost identical situation and emulated his fellow forward with an effort that failed to trouble Tommy Lee in the slightest. Dan Gardner aimed a low cross towards the feet of Ebanks-Blake, although the striker couldn't connect and Lee Burge ultimately gathered possession with ease for the home side.

From distance, John Fleck unleashed an effort and forced a diving save to the right-hand side by Lee who pushed the ball behind for a corner-kick. O'Neil met a loose ball inside the area and struck with an incredible amount of force, but the ball evaded the crossbar and sailed straight into the stands when the midfielder was firmly expected to hit the target.

Just before the half-time whistle, Herd met a driven cross inside the area and evaded the crossbar with a forceful header.

Only five minutes had been played in the second period before the home side took the lead through Armstrong's neat finish into the bottom right-hand corner of the net, which Lee was absolutely powerless to stop. Jacob Murphy looked to get in on the act with a strike from distance that, on this occasion, Lee was able to stop in its path towards the back of the net.

Just past the hour mark, Ebanks-Blake thought he'd levelled the scoreline as he stabbed the ball underneath a helpless Burge only for the linesman's flag to cut short any celebrations. An individual run by Murphy, which was made easier by lacklustre defending, culminated in a low shot that was blocked and more importantly pushed to safety by Lee.

With only two minutes of normal time remaining, Dieseruvwe was dismissed after being booked for a second time due to deliberately meeting a cross with his arm. During the three minutes of additional time, the home side thought they'd grabbed their second through Ryan Kent's simple finish but once again the linesman's flag was in a raised position.