The game began brightly with Chester holding most of the possession. The Blues first real attack came with six minutes on the clock when Kevin Rapley had a brace of quick chances, his latter shot from close range, seemed to be blocked off the line by one of his own players, Daryl Clare.

Smith and McIntyre combined well in the opening stages to supply a number of good crosses but the Blues seem to lack conviction in the final third. They did enjoy a good spell of pressure that culminated on 12 minutes when Alex Smith attempted to set Daryl Clare up, the ball was cleared by Iain O'Connell but fell into the path of Shaun Carey. From 30 yards out he sent in a powerful drive that just missed the far side upright. The best Margate could offer in retaliation at the other end came from a 16th minute free kick, that effort rebounded off Alex Smith's back side and back into play.

At this point, the game seemed to progress with a lack of urgency and a somewhat dour atmosphere inside the stadium. The Blues had a couple of corners in quick succession on 23 minutes, the latter whipped in by Kevin McIntyre found Scott Guyett who headed well over the crossbar.

Margate almost made an early substitution within the first half hour but manager Chris changed his mind at the last minute. Another bout of Blues pressure came on 34 minutes when Jon Brady showed everyone how to kick a ball without it getting very far and he should have done a lot better. City continued to deliver a number of good crosses and corners into the Margate area, but they failed to take those chances, even missing out on a blatant hand ball by a Margate defender, when the referee waved play on.

Ben Davies had sent in a scorching shot on 45 minutes, trying to volley the ball over the keeper's head from around 30 yards out. A great shot, but it brought out a fine save from goalkeeper Phil Smith.

All in all not the most exciting first half - a dominant display by the Blues but no signs of urgency. Margate had no clear cut chances on goal, but City need to make their presence felt and they nearly did so in the dying stages of the half with an excellent move involving three or four players. They danced around the Margate defence, which ended with Smith setting up Davies, one on one with the keeper he shot straight into the body of the keeper.

HT: Chester City 0 Margate 0

The second half proved more exciting than the first. Chester pushed forward in numbers, and Margate were equal to everything City threw at them. On 47, Chester had a brief let off when Darron Annon found an opening and unleashed Margate's first shot from the right flank, his effort going straight into the hands of keeper Wayne Brown.

That spurred the Blues on and Chester began to pressurise. On 58m Danny Collins tried to fire the ball into the roof of the net, but his drive rasped over the crossbar. Mark Wright made an immediate double substitution, bringing on Ian Foster and Darryn Stamp for Jon Brady and Kevin Rapley.

Chester's ninth corner of the game nearly brought an opening, Daryl Clare going wide, but he nearly scored seconds later on 61, when he broke the offside trip, one on one with the keeper he shot straight into Phil Smith's legs.

On 63 a collision between Phil Smith and Scott Guyett brought a delay of about four minutes, whilst both players received attention. Both players were later brought off injured, to be replaced by Charlie Mitten and Phil Bolland respectively.

Five minutes later and the opening City were looking for, came. Alex Smith pushed the ball forward to Kevin McIntyre on the left flank, who set up Ben Davies. Davies then ran across the face of the area, before sending his low drive into the left corner.

Former Chester player John Keister went close on 73 from a free kick, but Wayne Brown was at his best to tip the ball over the crossbar and out for corner.

Chester doubled their advantage on 82 minutes, when Alex Smith sent a good ball up to Darryn Stamp, Stamp then crossed from the left to Daryl Clare. Clare's shot caught a deflection of Graham Porter and with the goalkeeper wrong footed, the ball ended up in the back of the net. After that Margate heads went down and they never looked likely to get back into the game.

In the dying stages a third goal was inevitable and it came in stoppage time through Darryn Stamp, just eight yards out he made no mistake sending the ball home from close range.

Devatext Man of the Match: Ben Davies .

A disappointing attendance of … 1,971