The season is over. That means we are officially in the dry months of the football calendar. Soon will come the days when longing pangs for an away day in a cup you’re not going to win in a town you’ve never heard of on a sub-zero Tuesday in January begin to set in. Now there’s nothing to do but sustain yourself on the crumbs of information about new transfers and outgoings and reminisce about games long past. One such game that I like to think about was on a similarly cold January afternoon in 2019, Chesterfield FC versus Ebbsfleet United. This game is likely still fresh in the minds of many Chesterfield fans even over three years since the final whistle was blown because Chesterfield against Ebbsfleet was a game that had everything and even though it ended in a draw it perhaps encapsulates Chesterfield’s entire tenure in non-league so far.

A touch of context for you all first, however. On the day Ebbsfleet travelled up to Chesterfield in January 2019 the National League was a very different creature to what it is today. In that season there was no Stockport County, who were still in the division below, Salford and Leyton Orient were exchanging blows in a promotion fight. Fylde, Gateshead and even Ebbsfleet themselves were all in the top nine places in the division, all three have since been relegated. In contrast, the Spireites, without a manager at the time after the sacking of Martin Allen, were languishing in 22^nd, firmly in the relegation places and with little hope of moving out of the drop zone.

Chesterfield was a completely different team to what they are now, on the evening they hosted Ebbsfleet they fielded only 3 players who were still in the squad last season: Curtis Weston, Tom Denton and Haydn Hollis. Elsewhere on the pitch players like, Alfie Beestin, Lee Shaw and Callum Burton started, none of whom lasted long at the club.

In the first half, the game went about as well as could be expected. Chesterfield were atrocious. A very weak penalty was given away by Callum Burton and was dispatched accordingly by Michael Cheek. You knew things weren’t going to plan when Tom Denton was substituted for Jamie Sharman in only the 34^th minute. Perhaps there was no plan.

Ebbsfleet’s second came after 40 minutes, some hapless defending led to Cody McDonald passing the ball into the net from 6 yards out. Soon after, some even worse defending allowed for Bagasan Graham to poke the ball through Callum Burton’s legs to put Ebbsfleet 0-3 up at halftime. It felt like we were in for another long afternoon.

The start to the second half wasn’t much brighter, but on 64 minutes Tom Denton did what Tom Denton does best and headed it in from close range to make it 1-3, a goal that most in the stadium thought was just a mere consolation in yet another humiliation that season.

Time was ticking down, some of those in attendance were getting out of their seats to leave early. There were only just over four thousand to begin with. Chesterfield games in that era were always characterised to me by the swathes of empty seats that would lie before me. Back then you could put your feet up on the (almost guaranteed to be empty) seat in front of you, you would hunker down to try and fight the cold, anything to take your mind off of the turgid performance playing out in front of you. Entire blocks on the stands would be empty. You could sit where you wanted because there was practically no one else there. Mercifully you can’t do that at the Technique Stadium anymore.  

A glimmer of hope then materialised. Marc-Antoine Fortuné did well to hold the ball up after a Denton flick-on in the box, and managed to swivel and shoot past Nathan Ashmore in the Ebbsfleet goal to grab Chesterfield’s second.

And then, in the 5^th minute of stoppage time, Will Evans popped up near the back post to smash home an equaliser. It was a header worthy of winning any game not just an equaliser, but Chesterfield fans didn’t care about that.

Carnage ensues. Those still in the stadium go mad (me included). Some lads at the bottom of the south stand jump onto the pitch to taunt Ashmore, a keeper notorious for winding up opposition fans, and the man who had been shamelessly wasting time since Ebbsfleet’s first. The presence of fans on the pitch sparks a 22-man brawl between the players as Ebbsfleet defenders start to push and shout at the jubilant fans. It was obvious from the stands that tensions were high. Ebbsfleet had just thrown away two points against a side threatened with relegation, and Chesterfield had just saved their hides- maybe this was finally the turning point for them. Emotion was at an all-time high.

And this emotion boiled over mere minutes after the equaliser. After easily claiming the ball in his hands after a cross, Callum Burton, for reasons only he knows, decided to shove Michael Cheek on the edge of the box. After deliberations with her linesman, referee Rebecca Welch awarded a penalty to Ebbsfleet and a straight red card to Burton. This was the 96^th minute, Chesterfield had already made all three of their substitutions and there was no way to get their sub keeper Joe Anyon on to face the penalty. But there was a man that stood up. After scoring the goal to put Chesterfield level just a minute earlier, Will Evans donned the goalie gloves and a fetching orange keeper’s shirt and took position in the goalmouth.

Admittedly, Michael Cheek’s second penalty of the game was far worse than his first, it was a tame effort from a man who looked like he was already thinking about his post-match shower. As the ball was directed towards goal, Evans, obviously uncomfortable, dived with his arms outstretched and palmed the ball away from danger. Pandemonium. I think I shouted my voice into oblivion. All those minutes of misery fizzled away and what was left was a diamond. A diamond of a moment, forced into existence from all the pressure of shoddy teamwork, woeful defending and a touch of the insane to create one of the most bizarre football matches in the club’s history.

It was Will Evans’ day. In the seasons that followed his form and appearances slowly began to dip but his heroics have always been fondly looked back on. That whole match quite neatly encapsulates Chesterfield’s time in the national league. From calamity, controversy and incredulity to celebration, saviours, heroes and fantasy. It was a match that, much like our time in non-league, was filled with highs and lows of massive proportions.

In the end though, it was all just a draw. In the record books, it will go down as nothing more. Both teams left the stadium with a point. It wasn’t the start of a dynasty for the soon incoming John Sheridan and it didn’t propel Ebbsfleet to a promotion push. In the grand scheme of things that game had no significance whatsoever. It was just another football game in January.

But looking back on it, years later, it does deel like something more. It was one of those matches that will always stick with you. It sticks with you in a way that makes it so much more than what reality might want you to believe. I felt like that match was Chesterfield FC, in its entirety, and all the reasons why we love our club.