GRANT SHENTON was still fuming hours after Tuesday’s impressive 4-1 win over Ashton United at The Deva Stadium.

Despite playing his part in Chester’s nine-match unbeaten run in National League North, the Blues keeper was furious at conceding a soft-stoppage time goal against their struggling visitors.

“I didn’t stop moaning on the way home,” said the former Ramsbottom keeper. “And it had nothing to do with the fact that I missed out on by clean sheet bonus because we don’t have individual bonuses at the club. It’s all about the team.

“I was just gutted that we let one in and so were the rest of the defence. It was as if we’d lost when we came off the pitch at the end.

“It was a great win and I get a good view of how well we play from where I am - and even Craig Mahon’s scoring headers!”

That was the 19th goal Shenton has conceded this season, although eight of those came in one game - the infamous 8-1 battering at Blyth Spartans.

“It was a crazy result, a weird game all-round and in a way maybe it was a wake-up call,” added Shenton. “I still think that it was the last-minute goal at Guiseley that turned our fortunes around.

“The Blyth game was bad, then when we came back from the break we lost at Telford and it was becoming a bit of a tricky situation.

“But that late goal at Guiseley seemed to give us that belief and we’ve kicked on from there.”

Shenton has praised the joint-management team of Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley for rescuing the Blues season.

“They know how to win matches and they know they’re stuff too,” he added.

“Everyone has an opinion after watching the TV documentary but they both know the game and want us to have that winning mentality.

“They gave me my chance at Ramsbottom as an 18-year-old, taking over from an established keeper and gave me so much confidence as a young goalkeeper.”

Johnson and Morley will have needed to do all their homework on Saturday’s hosts, Brackley Town, who are managed by ex-Wrexham boss Kevin Wilkin.

Brackley warmed up for the visit of the Blues with an impressive 3-1 win at Boston on Tuesday and Shenton added: “Brackley are good. They won the FA Trophy last year and are always up near the top.”

With a quarter of the season gone, Blues’ joint-boss Johnson remains cautious of talking up his side.

“When we came here in close season everything Bernard and I said was just words but once the games started we knew you would see the type of team we wanted to put on the pitch,” said Johnson.

“In terms of performances I think we’re further ahead of where we wanted to be because we expected it to take a bit longer.

“We’ve had a bad run of injuries and we’re still not out of the woods but as a group the players are buying into what the coaching staff want and our work rate has been relentless.

“If teams want to turn games into a fight we will fight and have a scrap with them and if teams want to go toe to toe and play football we can do that as well.”