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A first half own goal from Downes and then a Gareth Taylor second half lob secured Rovers the points which saw them move from 9th into 4th place in the league one table.
Ronnie Moore made one change from the side that was defeated 2-1 at Hull on Tuesday, replacing player/coach Jason McAteer with Paul McLaren, whilst McAteer took the place of injured striker Calvin Zola on the substitute bench.
Chesterfield boasted three former Rovers players in their 16, with Paul Hall and Reuben Hazell in the starting 11 whilst Wayne "The Chief" Allison was named among the Chesterfield substitutes.
It was the home side who had the best of the first half, with Robbie Stockdale first making a potential goal-saving challange on Kevan Hurst before Chris McCready flicked a goal-bound cross away from almost under his own cross bar.
Rovers were not producing much penetration at the other end, with only a Kevin Ellison volley which went well over the bar causing Roche any concern.
After Ian Goodison missed a header in the 25th minute, Paul Shaw was put through one-on-one with Gavin Ward. Chesterfield's number 7 shot for just inside the area, but Gavin Ward saved well down to his left.
Another attack minutes later saw Kevan Hurst shoot wide from 20-yards out when it looked as if Chesterfield should score when outnumbering the Rovers defenders.
On 29-minutes, Rovers conjoured their best attack of the game so far. A weighted pass from John Mullin was collected by winger Chris Shuker who hit a powerful shot towards the top corner, but Roche was equal to the effort at his near post.
On 37-minutes Rovers had another chance, courtesy of Chris Shuker. The winger whipped in a cross towards the far post where Gareth Taylor met the ball with a diving header but it went well wide.
Just before half time, Rovers some how took the lead, after Chesterfield had failed to make their chances pay.
After Kevin Ellison's goalbound effort was saved by Roche, Mullin shot towards two defenders on the goalline. Between them, the two Spireite players failed to keep the ball out and it trickled in to the net, eventually being named as an Aaron Downes own goal.
This was the last action in a first half which for the main part Rovers had been by far the weaker side and played some poor football, but as all promotion sides do, were leading when they had not been the best team on the park.
In the second half, Rovers looked like a completely different team. McLaren and Mullin began to control the game from midfield whilst the wingers, especially Chris Shuker were beginning to see much more of the ball.
They were twice on the attack early on, as first McCready failed to get on the end of an Ellison cross before the former Chester player brought a save out of Roche with a header.
On 67-minutes, Rovers doubled their advantage, with what is so far their best goal of the season.
A fantastic looped pass from Paul McLaren found Taylor, who, after catching the keeper off his line, showed the Rovers fans how he has manager over 100 goals in his career with a perfect lob over Roche.
Rovers now had the game in the bag and were in cruise control. Shuker saw a deflected shot saved by Roche whilst Ellison looped another header over.
Taylor saw another effort go straight at Roche after some good link up play with partner Chris Greenacre before Carl Tremarco replaced Ellison and Jason McAteer replaced Chris Shuker.
Ronnie Moore will without doubt be pleased with the win, one which sees Rovers move upto fourth in the table.
Despite not playing their best football, Rovers forced the win, the first time they have scored consecutive league wins since December/January last year when they beat Port Vale and Rotherham.
489 Rovers fans travelled to the game, a sign that as form improves, so do the away attendances, this so far being their second biggest of the season behind Doncaster.
Jones' Man Of The Match: The only person who really performed well in both halves was Robbie Stockdale. The former Middlesbrough right-back performed outstandingly in both halves, playing some creative passes whilst also defending faultlessly.