This was one of the poorest games we have had to endure this season against a team that had no attacking aspirations whatsoever. Chesterfield set up their stall for a point and they got it, but in the process, they also managed to kill off any faint play-off hopes we may have harboured.

Rangers kept the same side for the third match in succession following good showings against Blackpool and Cardiff. The problem we had in this game was that Chesterfield were more than content to sit deep, defend, and not really bother with attacking at all. When teams come to play like this it is bloody hard to play yourself. There was no chance of playing on the counter-attack and it is difficult to pass your way through a ten-man defence.

Rangers were the better side from start to finish and you got the feeling that if we had taken one of the several good chances we created that the floodgates would have opened. Richard Pacquette should have done better with a header from six yards that drifted over the bar. Steve Palmer can count himself as extremely unlucky not to have added to his four goals for the season. A Langley corner was headed into his path and he rattled the bar from eight yards with a well-struck volley.

The remainder of the half was made up of a lot of huffing and puffing by Rangers interspersed with the offside flag being waved at the hapless Chesterfield forwards. One in particular, Roger Willis, seemed to have no grasp of the offside laws and must have been flagged on ten occasions. I think it had more to do with the fact he was so slow that he had to set off ten minutes before everybody else rather than our gun barrel straight back line.

Several goalbound efforts were blocked away for corners and Langley's delivery seems to have improved since the savaging I gave him two games ago. Shittu headed one narrowly over and several more caused pandemonium at the back for The Spireites. Had it not been for an outstanding display by Chesterfield centre half Steve Blatherwick, things could have been different.

Even at half time, I was still confident that the breakthrough would come. I confidently predicted to those around me that we would get two or three in the second half as surely they couldn't keep hanging on like this! Nice one Skinner, ruined it for everybody again!

The game was much of the same after the break with Rangers relentlessly surging forward only to find the entire Chesterfield team waiting for them. Holloway responded to our inability to take the lead with a treble substitution. Forbes, Griffiths and Pacquette all went off to be replaced with Peacock, Doudou and Thomson. Indeed, our semi-fit top scorer should have taken all three points.

Our first real effort on target came courtesy of Thomson as his fifteen-yard header forced Nathan Abbey into a smart save. With about ten minutes left however he missed the sort of chance, he would have snapped up before Christmas. Good play from Gallen saw the ball slipped through to Thomson and he contrived to drag his shot wide of the right hand post with only Abbey to beat.

It is obvious that he hasn't played in a while, as he didn't look as sharp as we know he can be. I would like to see him get a run in the reserves on Tuesday, as he needs to play as much as he can to get that cutting edge back.

With the final whistle, a curtain was closed over our season. It will take a miracle for us to reach the play-offs now. One or two of the teams currently up there will need to make a monumental arse up and lose the majority of their remaining games. We in turn will need to put the sort of run together that this team is simply not capable of. Our failure to knock off teams like Chesterfield, Cambridge and Northampton at home has ultimately cost us.

I think we may have one final surge before it is all over but we have left ourselves too much to do. We will finish top ten and at the start of the season, I would have taken that so I will not be disheartened. If Holloway can keep this team together, they will only get better and with a bit of luck the summer will bring a new owner and the lifting of the current farcical embargo. If we are able to add four or five fresh faces to the squad and keep players of Thomson's calibre then next season could be very interesting.