Exeter's fine seven-match unbeaten run was brought to a shuddering halt as Chesterfield roared to an incredible 6-1 victory at St James' Park.

Paul Tisdale had won five and drawn two of their previous seven games and kept five clean sheets in that time, but they were overwhelmed by a Chesterfield side that took full advantage of a catalogue of errors in the Grecians' defence.

Chesterfield took the lead on 38 minutes in some style when Jamie Winter let fly from 25 yards and his shot screamed into the top corner.

It was soon 2-0 as some poor Exeter defending allowed Alan Goodall a sight at goal and his shot took a big deflection before nestling in the net.

The Grecians pulled a goal back shortly after the restart when Adam Stansfield finished well from Marcus Stewart's driven cross, but that was as good as it got for the men from Devon, who then shot themselves in the foot with some kamikaze defending from there on in.

The visitors made it 3-1 when Exeter goalkeeper Paul Jones spilled a soft Jamie Ward shot into the path of Jack Lester who tapped into an empty net.

Lester got his second courtesy of more sloppy defending when he robbed Jones of the ball and rolled it into an empty net.

Ward grabbed the fifth and it was again down to poor defending as Steve Tully and Dan Seaborne contrived to lose possession and the former Aston Villa trainee ran through to slot past Jones.

And Exeter's misery was complete when Matthew Gill criminally passed the ball straight to Darren Currie, who rolled the ball past Jones to cap a memorable night for the Spireites.