Booed off at half-time, Chesterfield recovered to grab a vital 4-2 win over Port Vale in the Sky Bet League One on Saturday.

In the absence of the rested Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Rai Simons was handed his first start since the 1-0 defeat away at Burton on February 12, but that was as good as it got for the Bermuda striker, who was replaced at half-time by Jay O’Shea with his side a goal down.

Chesterfield’s poor first half performance was met with a chorus of boos from the home fans, and Danny Wilson, the Chesterfield manager, said that had done all the talking for him at the break.

“I quite enjoyed the booing, it gave them a kick up the arse, I thought it was brilliant because I didn’t have to say a great deal — I did, but I didn’t have to really,” Wilson said.

“The first 45 was poor, really poor. We were massively second best in everything we did, and that can’t happen.”

Vale had taken a deserved lead when AJ Leitch-Smith converted Byron Moore’s cross in the 36th minute, Chesterfield in contrast managed just one effort on goal, and Wilson opted to make a double change.

O’Shea came on for Simons, while Connor Dimaio, a midfielder, was replaced by Gboly Ariyibi, a striker.

The move paid almost instant dividends for the home side, with Ariyibi creating Jamal Campbell-Ryce’s equaliser two minutes after the restart.

O’Shea then got in on the act, crossing for Sam Hird to power in a header on the hour mark, to put Chesterfield in front.

Port Vale drew level ten minutes later through Jonathan Hooper, before Ariyibi restored his side’s lead soon after and O’Shea sealed the win seven minutes from time with a fine effort from outside the penalty area.

Defeat put a dent in Port Vale’s slender play-off hopes, while Chesterfield gave themselves some breathing room in the battle to beat the drop.

Wilson’s side moved up to seventeenth, five points clear of the relegation zone.

“You can’t take anything away from that second half, that was a great, great 45 minutes,” Wilson said. “That’s what they’re there for. You don’t have subs on the bench not to make a difference, and that’s what they’ve done. Job well done.”

In the Championship, a late Fernando Forestieri strike gave Sheffield Wednesday a narrow 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town in a nervy West Yorkshire derby.

In a game of few chances, Wednesday could have taken the lead earlier but Joel Lynch, the Huddersfield defender, managed to clear Aiden McGeady’s effort off the line.

Huddersfield’s best effort came from Harry Bunn, whose long-range shot was deflected wide.

The result, coupled with Derby County’s 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City, took Wednesday to fifth, while Huddersfield are still flirting with relegation. Defeat dropped David Wagner’s men to eighteenth, although eight points still separates them from Milton Keynes Dons in 22.

In League Two, Reggie Lambe was an unused substitute as Mansfield Town slumped to another defeat, this time losing 2-1 away at Hartlepool United.

Billy Paynter scored twice from the penalty spot for the home side either side of Colin Daniel’s equaliser for Mansfield.