Milan Butterfield’s Chesterfield dropped into the Vanarama National League relegation zone after suffering late heartache in a 3-2 defeat away to Altrincham yesterday.

The teams looked destined for a share of the spoils with the scoreline locked at 2-2 before Josh Hancock notched his second goal of the night a minute from time to snatch all three points.

Chesterfield got off to a flying start as they broke the deadlock in the thirteenth minute through Scott Boden’s header, only for Altrincham to level eight minutes later courtesy of Fisayo Adarabioyo.

The visiting side went close to regaining the lead, as Tom Denton’s headed effort was cleared off the line and the score remained level heading into the interval.

It was the home side who edged ahead just after the hour mark as Hancock kept his composure to score his first from the penalty spot.

However, the lead lasted no longer than a minute as Chesterfield responded superbly to equalise through Jordan Cropper, who fired into the bottom left corner from the edge of the area.

The visiting side came close on two occasions soon after as Altrincham goalkeeper Anthony Thompson made smart saves to deny both Denton and Boden from close range.

But with full time looming, there was still one late twist as Hancock broke through on the right-hand side of the area and slotted low past debutant goalkeeper Corey Addai for the winner

The result leaves Chesterfield in 21st place in the table, a point off the bottom and one from safety.

Meanwhile in the same division, Justin Donawa and his Solihull Moors team-mates were not in action once again because one of their squad previously testing positive for Covid-19.

Having already had last Saturday’s visit of Halifax Town postponed as a result of the positive test, their next fixture at home to Weymouth on Saturday has also been postponed.

Dale Eve and Spennymoor Town also saw their National League North schedule disrupted owing to the virus after their home game against Blyth Spartans was postponed last night after a positive test within the visiting side’s squad.