Chesterfield saw two more vital points slip away as ten-man Tranmere fought back to earn a draw in an incident-packed game at Saltergate.
After two goals in the first 69 seconds of the match, the pendulum swung towards the home side with the sending off of Danny Harrison and a second home goal from Mark Allott.
But Tranmere reorganised in the second half and Eugene Dadi equalised with a close-range header and it needed an excellent double stop from Carl Muggleton to deny the visitors victory.
The game had begun in sensational fashion with Dadi flashing a left-foot shot from 20 yards into the top left-hand corner, but Glynn Hurst replied straight away in his first game since August.
Tranmere always looked vulnerable and they were reduced to ten men when Harrison caught Allan O'Hare with a reckless challenge, that saw the left-back stretchered off.
When Allott got in behind Rovers on the left and steered a low shot inside the left hand post, it looked good for Roy McFarland's team.
But Tranmere went to a back four in the second half and looked more solid and with David Beresford, they had the player who could turn the match.
He found space on the Chesterfield right to deliver a stream of crosses, one of which Dadi headed in in the 54th minute.
Hurst almost restored the Chesterfield lead in the 64th minute with a volley from the edge of the box, but John Achterberg made a good save to his right and it needed equally sharp reflexes from Muggleton to deny Tranmere in the closing minutes.
He clawed out a Ryan Taylor free-kick that was heading for the top right hand corner and then blocked the follow up from Dadi before Taylor almost won it in injury time, but his goal bound strike from 16 yards was brilliantly charged down by Gareth Davies.