On Wednesday 6th October I went to Hillsborough to watch Chesterfield face Sheffield Wednesday in the 2nd round of the Johnstones Paint Trophy.

As soon as I heard the draw for the second round of the JPT, I was very excited about a trip to Hillsborough, and I felt Chesterfield had a good chance of winning the game.

I was even more excited about this match because I live in Sheffield and so obviously I know a few Wednesday fans and it would be nice to get one over on them, as we hadn’t played a competitive game since 2005 (which I also went to) . It was also the first time I had been to a game that was being shown live on TV, as the match was live on Sky Sports 2.

We arrived early and bought a programme, before heading to our seats in the top tier of the Leppings Lane End. The top tier was packed full of Chesterfield fans singing and cheering. All 3,500 tickets given to the away fans had been sold, and it made for a great atmosphere.

Wednesday also brought around 12,000 fans considering they were making it out as the ‘Mickey Mouse Cup’ and that they weren’t bothered about it. The total attendance was 15,003.

Both sides started well, but it was Chesterfield who got off the mark quickest. On the 10th minute Dean Morgan got on the end of a Drew Talbot cross to send the away fans crazy.

However, it didn’t take the Owls long to get back in the game. Clinton Morrison got past Dwayne Mattis and Simon Ford, before Tommy Lee knocked the ball into the path of Neil Mellor who wasn’t going to miss from that close.

Chesterfield still looked dangerous and even had two goals disallowed before half time. Jordan Bowery headed the first one home, and looking at replays it was offside. However, Craig Davies’ goal just before half time was onside and really should have stood.

As we headed into the second half I was still feeling very optimistic and felt Chesterfield were playing well.

Both sides looked dangerous in the second half. Wednesday hit the bar and had a shot cleared off the line, while Chesterfield had some great spells and looked like scoring every time they went forward.

With 15 minutes to go, John Sheridan put dangerman Jack Lester on, while Owls manager Alan Irvine brought on Marcus Tudgay to give both  teams more attacking options.

On the 84th minute Craig Davies broke through and scored right in front of the Chesterfield fans. I went crazy when this goal went in, thinking we had won it.

Sadly, with just seconds of normal time, Derek Niven dived in unnecessarily on Giles Coke and brought him down in the area. Marcus Tudgay stepped up, Lee saved the penalty, but he fired in the re-bound to make it 2-2.

There was no extra time, so the game went straight to penalties, and it was an incredible shoot-out.

After 4 penalties each, both teams had missed one. Wednesday missed their next penalty and all Dwayne Mattis had to do was score to win the game. However his penalty was kept out by Nicky Weaver. Simon Ford had the next chance to win it after 8 penalties each, but Weaver saved his penalty too.

 With all 10 outfield players having taken penalties and nothing yet decided, it came down to the keepers. Nicky Weaver stepped up first, and literally goal-kicked the ball into the back of the net. Tommy Lee then stepped up and completely missed the target, meaning Wednesday had won.

It had been a great game, and although we had lost, I think Chesterfield players and fans could leave with their heads held high, knowing they had played just as well if not better, than a side looking for promotion from League 1.