BERNARD MORLEY hailed his side's resilient defending as 10-man Chester beat Guiseley 1-0 at The Deva Stadium to move up to second place in the National League North.

Defender Kevin Roberts's sixth minute header secured a second successive win, although the Blues had to dig deep to keep the visitors at bay after Simon Grand was sent off midway through the second half.

"You score so early and it seems a very, very long game," Morley told reporters after the game.

"We had good chances in the first half which we didn't take and Guiseley just played the percentages very well.

"They have got a big throw-in and you know we are very vulnerable on set-pieces as we have been all season but we were switched on all over the park and really delighted with the three points and a clean sheet as well."

Grand was shown a straight red card by referee Liam Marshall for pulling back winger Kaine Felix who appeared to be chasing a ball that was heading towards the corner flag.

Morley believes the dismissal was harsh.

"Obviously disappointed, no matter who it is that gets sent off or what for, you always give the opposition a chance to get back into the game by doing that," said Morley.

"The red card was a bit harsh but the referee made a decision and we had to get on with it."

Morley has hinted that he and co-boss Anthony Johnson could appeal the red card.

"From our angle, it looked like it was going away from goal and it looked a soft red card," said Morley.

"If that's the case, of course we will (appeal it) and it will reflect bad on the referee.

"It is not what we want to see but in a game where it's 1-0, I don't recall a player appealing for a red card or last man.

"But he has made his decision, he has gone and spoken to the linesman so it is clear the linesman said he was last man and he was denied a goalscoring opportunity."

Although left with 10-men, Chester held firm at the back to register back to back victories for the first time since starting the 2020-21 campaign with two wins, and Morley applauded the defensive effort to deny Guiseley an equaliser.

"Once Grandy went off, we weren't a very big side at that time, there was only Connor Taylor probably over six-foot," said Morley.

"But we defended really well; we were robust, resilient and well worthy of our three points."

Chester are now only four points behind leaders Gloucester City having played the same number of games as the tabletoppers but Morley is just concentrating on Saturday's trip to Bradford Park Avenue.

"It is a good place to be but we will just focus on Saturday now," added Morley.