A minute later Daryl Clare pounced on a loose ball and won a corner for his efforts.  The corner was played in by Kevin McIntyre but no-one could control it and again the Daggers defence cleared the ball upfield.

In the 8th minute Iain Turner had to make a good save with his foot after a good shot from Jimmy Jackson was heading towards the bottom left hand corner of the goal.

Darryn Stamp had a great shot at goal with his first touch in the 13th minute receiving a long ball from Jamie Heard on the right hand side, but the goal keeper was well placed to receive the ball without any drama.

A few minutes later Alex Smith made an excellent move and received the ball from Darryn Stamp in a breakaway move.  With only the keeper to beat he was brought down by Tony Roberts in the Dagenham goal and the referee pointed straight to the spot without hesitation.

Daryl Clare stepped up to take the penalty and placed it well into the bottom left hand corner of the net. 1-0 to Chester.

Chester continued to have most of the possession and McIntyre was aggrieved in the 26th minute not to have been awarded a free kick as he appeared to be brought down whilst making a run down the left hand channel. One way traffic though, this is what we like to see.

Dagenham won a corner a few minutes before the break which Danny Hill played low to the near post where it was cleared away from danger.

At the other end Darryn Stamp had the chance to put the Blues 2-0 before half time but his powerful shot went wide of the right hand post.

So a little bit scrappy in the first half but the Blues were totally in the driving seat with little real danger in front of their own goal, and a few near chances for Stamp at the other end.

It was very nearly a different story at the start of the second half though. Dagenham spent the first two minutes of the half camped in front of the Chester goal and Mark Janny nearly equalised for them with his just rasping past the right hand upright.

After a poor goal clearance from Tony Roberts in the 49th Daryl Clare was released with the ball down the right hand side and crossed over to Darryn Stamp inside the goal area. Stamp seemed to lose his footing as he played his shot wide.

Stamp had a good chance again a few minutes later with a header as the ball was crossed high to him from Jamie Heard on the right hand side of goal but again he was off target and the ball sailed wide and over the goal.

Stamp again missed a sitter only moments later with a powerful volley after receiving the ball from Daryl Clare after a good run by Heard down the right.

A quiet period followed for the next 5 minutes or so, but then Chester were awarded a free kick just outside the box after a foul on Kevin McIntyre. Smith played the free kick short to Daryl Clare but his shot rebounded off the advancing Dagenham wall.

Kevin McIntyre took an excellent free kick in the 70th minute which curled round the wall towards the goal. Darryn Stamp got on the end of it but could not head it home.

It was disaster at the other end a minute later.  Leon Braithwate equalised for Dagenham with a close range header at the far post with Turner stranded.  The Blues immediately made a double substitution with Davies and Twiss replacing Carey and Smith.

In the 77th minute Darryn Stamp had another excellent shot at goal which was saved well by Tony Roberts for a corner.  The Blues fans appealed for a hand ball as the corner came in but the referee dismissed the claims and the ball was cleared away from danger.

Chester had a corner in the 85th minute which Ben Davies played into the centre of the goal. The daggers defence nearly scored an own goal with the ball coming down on to the cross bar as it went out for another corner.

Chester nearly had the ball in the net from the second corner but it was cleared away before it could get to the line.

With four minutes left Michael Twiss made a great run down the left hand channel forcing a good save from Roberts as his shot went in.

Ben Davies played the ball through to Daryl Clare in the final minute of regular time but his low shot from 10 yards was saved by Tony Roberts diving low along his goal line.

Chester really were pushing for the winner and from three yards out Daryl Clare again had his shot cleared off the line.  Blues fans will be wanting to know why we didn't play like this when we were a goal up.

Chester had the ball in the net in the second minute of added time but the linesman controversially flagged for Danny Collins in an offside position when he was not involved in the play.

Chester deserved a goal and it didn't look like it was coming until 2 minutes into injury time when man of the match Darryn Stamp received the ball following a superb run down the left channel by Michael Twiss and slotted it home.

A deserved win then for the blues but once again done the hard way. Someone please get me a supply of Valium for the rest of the season. Good afternoon from the Deva stadium.