CHESTER FC succumbed to a second successive National League North away defeat that, while nowhere near on the magnitude of their 8-1 humiliation at Blyth Spartans, was still a frustrating one to watch.

The Blues were keen to get back to some kind of normality after it had been two weeks since the absolute horror show.

But misplaced passes and troubles in defending left the visitors with too much to do after conceding two goals in the opening 20 minutes in horrendous fashion.

Three changes were made to the squad line-up since then, with Craig Mahon, Gary Stopforth and Matty Waters in place for Steve Howson, Daniel Mooney and the suspended Gary Roberts.

The opening exchanges saw a fairly even game with both sides creating opportunities, but both wasted their chances with terrible set-pieces.

The closest chance came to Telford in the opening 10 minutes when Simon Grand was put under pressure and headed awkwardly to keeper Grant Shenton, who had to palm the ball away before it was cleared.

The Chester defence, even with four at the back, looked a little vulnerable, but they conceded two goals within five minutes in the most dreadful way.

First, Shenton failed to kick the ball past Daniel Udoh and, while he recovered to make two excellent saves, the ball wasn't cleared and James Mcquilkin dinked the ball home in off the post from 10 yards on 15 minutes. 

Then, on 19 minutes, Chester were 2-0 behind when further inaccurate defending left Telford's Udoh with a glorious opportunity in the box, and he made no mistake from eight yards.

Chester struggled on and looked second-best, although Anthony Dudley at least created a chance on 29 minutes when he headed wide from a Mahon cross.

Mahon also had a chance to reduce the deficit on 40 minutes, shooting just wide from 15 yards following good build-up play from Stopforth and Pritchard.

But the only fire Chester had to show as half time approached was a scuffle involving most of the players from both squads. Nothing too major came from the incident other than a booking for Matty Hughes.

Jon Moran came on for the booked Danny Livesey at half time, and the visitors had a sense of renewed energy and determination, putting pressure on Telford and creating openings, but without making any clear-cut chances.

There was an opportunity for Anthony Dudley on 65 minutes when a clever ball from captain Scott Burton put him in a promising position in the box, but his first touch was poor and the ball went harmlessly out of play.

Just as it looked like Chester could grab a goal from a corner after John Pritchard's free kick required a save from Telford's Max Bramley on 75 minutes, and Simon Grand nearly fired in from an acute angle, Telford counter-attacked and the excellent Udoh found himself in acres of space to freely power the ball home from 18 yards. 

Chester did finally get a goal back on 80 minutes via a Pritchard corner and Grand's subsequent header, but there was confusion from the fans as the ball clearly hit the arm of a Telford player, albeit just after the ball had crossed the line.

Chester pressed on gamely but could find no other clear chances, leaving them with a lot of work to do to recover from what has been a difficult couple of weeks.

AFC Telford Utd (4-4-2): Bramley, White, Morley, Deeney, Sutton (c), Streete, Cowans, McQuilkin, Morgan-Smith (Dawson 76), Udoh, Knights.

Subs: Royle, Wycherley, Smith, Brown.

Booked: Streete.

Chester FC (4-4-2): Shenton, Dom Smalley, Pritchard, Burton (c), Livesey (Moran 45), Grand, Mahon (Thompson 65), Stopforth, Dudley, Hughes (Marsh-Hughes 65), Waters.

Booked: Livesey, Smalley, Hughes, Burton.

Subs: Howson, Mooney.

Man of the match: Simon Grand.

Referee: Benjamin Speedie - 6/10 - bit too card-happy and fussy to let the game flow as it should have, but no major issues.

Attendance: 1,876 (535 Chester)