May the fourth be with them

Droylsden and Chesterfield lock horns for the fourth time tonight in an attempt to finally resolve their FA Cup second round tie. The first meeting was abandoned at half time due to fog at Saltergate with the non-league outfit leading 1-0 at the time.

When the two sides met in the rearranged fixture, Chesterfield controversially allowed Droylsden to equalise with an uncontested goal after Jack Lester scored following a throw-in instead of giving the ball back to the goalkeeper.

Last week’s replay at the Butcher’s Arms was abandoned due to floodlight failure with Chesterfield leading 2-0 with just 18 minutes remaining.

A third-round trip to Ipswich awaits the winners but Chesterfield boss Lee Richardson believes the most recent encounter should have been completed.

“For me the game should have carried on, the referee has to hide behind stupid regulations. I don’t understand why we can stand around on the pitch for 20 minutes with the crowd in the ground, but we can’t play football for 15 minutes to see where we are,” he said.

“It makes no sense to me, there was complete visibility, you could see the whole of the pitch from all sides of the ground. There are plenty of games that will be played this season with far worse visibility that Droylsden.”

Richardson could make changes to his starting line-up, with midfielders Lloyd Kerry and Jamie Winter returning from suspension after missing last weekend’s league game against Port Vale.

However, defender Alan Goodall remains banned, while a late decision will be made on the fitness of former Welsh international defender Robert Page.

Richardson added: “Including the Port Vale game, we have four matches in eight days so we are going to have to rotate things a little.”

Droylsden, meanwhile, welcome back midfielder Jamie McGuire from suspension but Carl Ruffer and Tony Gray remain cup-tied.