Bradford City 0 Chesterfield 0
In a game that will not live long in the memory of those in attendance, City were probably slightly the better team on an evening where both sides looked far from their sharpest.
Zavon Hines was on the receiving end if a few poor challenges early on and after he had been fouled for the second time in quick succession Gary Jones forced Richard O'Donnell into a brilliant save when his freekick from just outside the area had looked to be nestling into the bottom corner.
A couple of minutes later City appealed for a pass back decision when Drew Talbot appeared to scoop Nahki Wells' cross into the arms of O'Donnell but the referee wasn't interested.
The Bantams looked the more likely to score the opening goal and Will Atkinson wasn't far from doing so; Chesterfield only half cleared following a City attack and Darby found Atkinson who curled his shot a yard or so wide from the edge of the area.
City almost found an opening from a corner but when Will Atkinson hesitated on a shooting opportunity, the visitors broke away quickly. The counter attack looked promising but Danny Whitaker wasted a glorious chance when he dragged his shot wide.
Some slick short passing by the visitors in the final third created another opening for Whitaker, but his firm shot from the edge of the area was blocked away.
After successive corners from Gary Jones that failed to produce a clear cut chance, one eventually found the head of debutant John Egan who powered a header a yard or so over the bar.
Most of the second half was rather uneventful, but the game sprung to life with about 10 minutes remaining.
Zavon Hines found Nahki Wells with a pass, Wells was forced wide by Terrell Forbes but he still managed to deliver a cross that found Alan Connell; Connell teed himself up for a shot that he lashed narrowly wide from the edge of the area.
The visitors almost grabbed an unlikely winner when Chris Atkinson had found Darikwa who delivered a cross which was headed towards goal by Atkinson himself; thankfully Matt Duke was on hand to alertly beat the ball away.
It was Will Atkinson that was the next to come close to snatching all 3 points for his side when he hit a half volley marginally over the bar after Paul Cook's men had only half cleared a floated long ball.
Nathan Doyle was ultimately the final player to try and find a winner with a 30 yard shot that fizzed well wide of goal in the 3rd minute of additional time as the game headed towards a goalless draw.