(West Ham win 5-4 on penalties)

West Ham survived a Worthington Cup fright as they scraped through to the third round following a nail-biting penalty shoot-out victory over brave Chesterfield.

Glenn Roeder's side had looked set to cruise home after taking a 13th-minute lead from Jermaine Defoe, and then dominating the first half.

But Chris Brandon equalised soon after the restart to force the late drama.

While West Ham converted all their penalties via Paolo Di Canio, Trevor Sinclair, Scott Minto, Steve Lomas and Michael Carrick, the unfortunate Spireite to crucially miss was Mark Allott.

For a club that almost went out of business last season, and is still picking up the pieces after going into administration, this was still a heroic performance.

Chesterfield restored their reputation battered in the wake of virtually being crippled by a number of financial irregularity charges.

Roeder underlined the importance of this fixture, perhaps more for the sake of his own future, by naming his strongest possible line-up.

Spireites boss Dave Rushbury's side had not conceded a goal throughout the month of September, a run of six consecutive matches, and a grand total of 576 minutes.

Spirited resistance

But that proud defensive record was shattered after just 13 minutes of this tie as Defoe underlined his growing reputation just six days short of his 20th birthday.

The England Under-21 international, the only change to the team which beat Chelsea, grabbed his second goal in four days after opening the scoring at Stamford Bridge.

Sebastian Schemmel's through-ball from just inside his own half split the Spireites' defence, with Defoe's pace proving too hot to handle as he held off the challenge of Stuart Howson before beating Carl Muggleton with a shot through his legs.

Skipper Di Canio struck a sweet volley over the crossbar after just 54 seconds prior to Defoe's opener, but other than that Muggleton was never tested as his backline proved defiant.

With the arrival of Brandon at the start of the second period, hope soon gave way to the prospect of glory as the free transfer signing from Torquay in the summer made it 1-1 six minutes after the restart.

Twice he had unnerved the Hammers defence before seizing on an Allott through-ball and coolly rounding David James before slotting the ball into a empty net to send the majority of the 7,000 crowd into a frenzy.

Chesterfield then more than held their own for the remainder of the half, but came unstuck in the penalty shoot-out.

Chesterfield: Muggleton, Dawson, Blatherwick, Howson, Davies, Hudson, Booty, Ebdon, Rushbury, Reeves, Allott. Subs: Edwards, Burt, Brandon, Richmond, Howard.

West Ham: James, Schemmel, Repka, Breen, Minto, Sinclair, Carrick, Lomas, Cole, Defoe, Di Canio. Subs: Van Der Gouw, Dailly, Cisse, Garcia, Camara.

Referee: A Hall (West Midlands).