Chesterfield's finest successes came in the 1990s. They won the Division Three playoffs in the year 1995 and reached the F.A Cup semi finals 2 seasons later, and were the most recent club from outside the top two leagues to progress this distance in the competition until Wycombe Wanderers repeated this feat five years later. Chesterfield has spent most of their time line in the lower divisions, and have never played in the English top flight. The team's most notable achievement of recent years happened in 1997, when they reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing to Middlesbrough in a replay following a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford. It turned out to be one of the most controversial matches in recent history with Chesterfield having a goal not given when referee David Elleray said the ball had not crossed the goal line from a Jonathan Howard shot, a choice that was later proved incorrect by video replays. Had the goal counted, the club would have progressed to the final of the FA Cup for the first time in its history - a feat which no club in the third tier of English football has achieved. Elleray however confirmed after the game that the goal was dissalowed for an infringement before the ball crossed the line.