Tom Nichols’ debut goal earned nine-man Peterborough United victory over Chesterfield on a dramatic afternoon at the Proact Stadium.

After a goalless and hard-fought first half, Nichols poked home the opener in the 55th minute. Just three minutes later, hopes of a Spireites comeback were improved when Michael Smith was shown a second yellow card.

But despite all the home pressure, and further depletion for the Posh when Ricardo Santos was sent off, the visitors managed to desperately cling on for all three points on another miserable afternoon for Chesterfield.

Chesterfield (0)

Line-up: Lee, Herd, Hird, Ebanks-Blake (Simons ’46), O’Shea (Gardner ’80), Novak, O’Neil, Donohue, Anderson, Talbot (Ariyibi ’70), Liddle
Unused subs: Chapman, Banks, Maguire, Ariyibi, Dimaio

Scorers: n/a

Peterborough United (1)

Line-up: Alnwick, Smith (RC ’57), Taylor, Bostwick, Oztumer (Beautyman ’60), Almeida-Santos (RC ’78), Angol (Samuelsen ’61), Forrester, Coulthirst, Toffolo, Nichols (Zakuani ’80)
Unused subs: Henry, Fox, Coulibaly, Nabi

Scorers: Nichols ’55

Attendance: 6,544 (707 away)
Date: 6th February 2016