Chester FC 0 Wrexham 1
In the words of one of our jury members, 36 hours on, the defeat gets no easier to take.
During that time you may well have read what Marcus Bignot, his players and what The Chronicle made of the 1-0 derby loss to Wrexham .
But now's the time to hear what the Blues supporters made of it all...
Ian Wilson
"To an extent I think the Blues could count themselves unlucky against the old enemy on Wednesday night but as Marcus Bignot has eluded to himself, we're getting to the point where we need to make our own luck and pick up points. Decent performances just aren't enough.
"We had enough good quality possession to have expected far more goalscoring opportunities and it's in the final third where we still don't seem to be clicking. Add to that the fact we always seem to have at least one soft goal in us and you can see that Marcus, whilst having clearly improved the side, still has a lot of work to do.
"But I remain hopeful. There is still a long way to go this season, we have moved forward, and if we can find a way to minimise those soft goals then I am confident that we'll be playing National League football next season.
"Finally it was good to see that the game went off without any major issues off the field, so well done to both sets of supporters. With that, and the fact that Wrexham are guaranteed to find a way to bottle promotion, we can look forward to another bubble-free derby next season. Revenge will be sweet. COYB."
Ian Saxby
"Thirty-six hours after the derby and the defeat is still no easier to take. Losing 1-0 to our rivals, despite having most of the game, is a bitter pill to swallow. At times I thought we played some really good football, particularly in the second half, but a combination of bad luck, poor refereeing and a momentary loss of concentration defending a set-piece did for us.
"Although it still hurts, I'm proud of how we played the game and cannot fault the passion and commitment of our players. We showed plenty of attacking endeavour and played the game the right way. This was in stark contrast to Wrexham, a team fashioned in the image of its manager - workmanlike, cynical and not easy to look at. To be fair to Wrexham, they have a superb back four, who marshaled our attacking three really well, especially when we were playing in front of them. The only time their defence looked exposed was when we got in behind them and whipped in dangerous crosses. However, this didn't happen often enough and once again our lack of width diminished our attacking threat.
"Whilst Wrexham's Shaun Pearson may have been many pundits' man of the match, their most valuable player was undoubtedly referee Thomas Bramall. We were denied a couple of good penalty shouts and Sam Wedgbury should have been red carded for a tackle on Paul Turnbull that was so late, I am typing this and he still hasn't finished it. We should have been playing against 10 men for most of the match; instead it felt like 12.
"On a side note, after some very low gates for this fixture, the crowd of 4,000 on Wednesday was just about acceptable, and the atmosphere inside the ground was excellent. It would be nice if some of the one-game wonders return this season as the team really needs our support if we are to climb out of the dreaded drop zone. I also hope the bucket collection raised some decent funds for Marcus Bignot's transfer kitty and fans picked up plenty of Christmas Raffle tickets to sell to family and friends. Only through our shared endeavour will this club move forward.
"The players put in a hell of a shift on Wednesday night, but fell just short. It's time for us supporters to go one better and raise some big money for the club we all love. COYB!"
Rio Doherty
"Wednesday night's defeat was totally undeserved. In the first half, our rivals were probably on top, however in the second period we really gave it a good go, hitting the woodwork twice, missing some chances, whilst having two strong penalty claims. Wrexham didn't look like a team who are joint-top. They looked very ordinary, with a very strong defence, but with a weak strike-force who hardly threatened. As had been the case over the last few weeks, we put in a strong, positive performance without getting a result. On another night we would've got a point, or maybe even won it, but it does hurt when you lose to your rivals.
"The goal came from blatant dive. However, we could have done better defensively to prevent the goal going in. It was pretty basic, but it's hard to point the finger at Ryan Astles. He needed eight stitches at half-time yet he still carried on playing. I think a lot of players need to learn about that - especially certain Wrexham players who were constantly feigning injury during the game, while attempting to get Jordan Archer sent off.
"Also, I think we should have had a penalty. Why else would Chris Holroyd stick both of his hands out? The referee got a lot of big decisions wrong including that one. Even Dean Saunders and Michael Owen thought it should have been a spot-kick.
"I have to mention the non-bubble. I only heard about a little scuffle early on, but I was expecting a lot more. Well done to everyone from both sides for remaining sensible and not spoiling the fixture what we all love. We may have lost, but it feels like our derby is back.
"Now we go into some important away games down south. We need the points as well as the performances."
Andy Davies
"It just doesn't feel like luck is on our side at the moment. We certainly shouldn't have lost on Wednesday night but we have done, for reasons both in and out of our control.
"We played well for large parts of the game but were undone by an ugly goal and one of Wrexham's very few chances. At the other end we've created plenty, we've hit the woodwork twice, but everything was wide of the mark and didn't test their goalkeeper Chris Dunn enough. Both keepers had a pretty easy night.
"We weren't helped by things out of our hands going against us, losing Reece Hall-Johnson long term is a massive blow and the referee made countless mistakes, but there's not much we can do about that.
"I do think that mentally there's still a hangover from the previous regime and it's taking time to clear. You can visibly see a bit of fear weighing heavily on the players' minds at times. I think Marcus Bignot is driving us forward but it's not a quick fix. I think this is demonstrated by the type of goals we keep conceding and the timing of them. Too often a simple ball into the box causes too much panic.
"Hopefully a little break to the Bromley game can help us get some bodies such as Tom Shaw, Craig Mahon and John McCombe back as we are a bit thin on the ground at the moment."
Alex Bullions
"It was truly heartbreaking to lose on Wednesday night. Wrexham played incredibly negative football, got dominated, scored from a set-piece and then sat back. I can only recall one, maybe two, Wrexham chances in the second half. On the other hand, the only stat that matters is goals and that's the one stat that Wrexham beat us on.
"Marcus Bignot's main objective was to keep us up and I am without doubt that he will do that. The performance may not have been good enough to beat the best defence in the league, but it certainly can beat the teams in the lower half.
"There's not much more to say other than there was plenty of positives to take, but there's no denying that this will hurt until March."
