Rai Simons and his Chesterfield teammates relegation fears deepened despite sharing a six-goal thriller with Peterborough at the Proact Stadium.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scored his first goal since August to give Chesterfield an early lead but Craig Mackail-Smith and Tom Nichols replied quickly to put Peterborough in front.
In a frenetic opening, Kristian Dennis and Mackail-Smith swapped goals to leave Peterborough leading 3-2 with only half-an-hour gone, but Chesterfield salvaged a 3-3 draw thanks to Dion Donohue's goal at the start of the second half.
Donohue's leveller helped Chesterfield avoid a 22nd League One defeat of the season, but they are now 10 points from safety after Oldham beat Oxford.
The hosts got off to a great start when Simons set up Ebanks-Blake who found the bottom-left corner from 16 yards in the third minute.
But Peterborough hit back four minutes later when Bradden Inman crossed from the right and Mackail-Smith turned the ball in at the back post.
Chris Forrester rattled the Chesterfield crossbar from 25 yards two minutes later but Peterborough scored again in the 17th minute when Nichols was given too much time to turn in the box and find the bottom corner.
Peterborough were equally charitable in the 27th minute when a free-kick was allowed to reach Dennis on the edge of the six-yard box and although he scuffed his first attempt, he fired the second into the roof of the net.
It was the first time Chesterfield had scored twice in a game this year but they were behind three minutes later when Forrester played Mackail-Smith into place a low shot inside Thorsten Stuckmann's right post.
More goals seemed inevitable and Chesterfield duly equalised in the 54th minute when Ebanks-Blake took advantage of static defending to set up Donohue who beat Luke McGee from 15 yards.
The chances kept coming and Mackail-Smith curled a shot against the underside of the bar five minutes from time before Posh substitute Junior Morais fired wide from four yards.
REGGIE LAMBE
Reggie Lambe and his Carlisle United teammates failed to score for the fifth successive game as they were held to a 0-0 draw by promotion rivals Luton.
The injury-hit Carlisle United had to show some dogged defensive work to keep out Lutons 22-goal leading scorer Danny Hylton who was responsible for side's best effort in the second half - a shot turned onto the crossbar.
There were some feisty early exchanges and referee Lee Mason was kept busy, booking Luton's Hylton and Olly Lee and Luke Joyce of Carlisle, all inside the first 20 minutes.
Hylton displayed his intentions when he fired a low shot across the face of the Carlisle goal after a determined break by Pelly Ruddock.
However, Carlisle came close to opening the scoring in the 27th minute when Luton's defence failed to deal with a long throw from the right and Jamie Proctor's shot from inside the six-yard area was blocked on the line by the combined efforts of goalkeeper Matt Macey and Alan Sheehan.
Sheehan, skippering Luton on his 50th appearance for the club, was involved defensively again before the break, getting a foot to John O'Sullivan's 20-yard drive, causing the ball to loop up onto the top of the net.
Carlisle came under severe pressure after the break and it took a fingertip save from Mark Gillespie to prevent Hylton giving Luton the lead in the 65th minute. The striker's powerful right-foot shot was heading for the top corner until the goalkeeper, at full-stretch, deflected it onto the crossbar and over for a corner.
There was a lengthy hold-up for an injury to Hatters defender Dan Potts who was hurt in a clash of heads in his own six-yard box and was eventually stretchered off. The break led to 10 minutes of added time during which neither side could grab a winner.
