THE lights haven't gone out on Chester's promotion ambitions, but they were dealt a heavy blow by a 2-0 defeat at Darlington.

Two first half goals saw the Blues fall to defeat for just the third time this season in a floodlight-affected fixture at the Quakers' Blackwell Meadows ground.

Omar Holness and a Joel Taylor own-goal left Chester trailing in the opening 45 minutes and, after a delay due to floodlight issues, Chester couldn’t conjure a response despite numerous opportunities.

The Blues bosses made one change to the side that defeated Bradford Park Avenue last weekend, as Kevin Roberts returned to replace Jamie Morgan.

The home side started on the front foot and had the first opportunity on six minutes.

Holness produced a fantastic ball into the box for Donawa, who volleyed wide of the post.

After Danny Livesey headed wide on the quarter of an hour mark, the pace of the game dropped.

That was until the 28th minute when Holness found space to latch on to a long ball over the top and lob the on-rushing Russ Griffiths to find the net.

Chester looked to respond as half chances for Akwasi Asante andSimon Grand were turned wide – both coming from Taylor's free kicks into the box.

But then came sucker punch on the stroke of half time.

A ball in from the left was spilled by Griffiths and Taylor – battling with Donawa for the loose ball – appeared to turn the ball into his own net.

After a 28-minute delay due to floodlight failure, Chester needed a spark to gain a foothold in the game.

They almost pulled a goal back when Asante climbed well to meet Brad Jackson's cross but Quakers keeper Liam Connell made a strong stop.

They then did have the ball in the net when Danny Livesey connected with a cross from the right, but the flag was up for offside.

Jackson was proving the big threat as the visitors looked to stage a fightback.

The pacy midfielder found space to run at Michael Liddle but his cross was nodded over by sub Matty Hughes.

The chances kept on coming, Hughes denied by a fantastic block in front of goal before Adam Campbell almost notched Darlington's third when Griffiths’ punch struck the forward and went towards goal, but Grand was back to clear.

Darlo’s record scorer Steve Thompson almost sealed it when he beat the offside trap on 88 minutes, but Griffiths made a great stop one-on-one.

Chester couldn’t find a way back late on against the struggling hosts, falling to a defeat that meant they lost further ground on promotion rivals King's Lynn Town and York City.