CHESTER CITY are still at the top of the Nationwide Conference table despite losing 2-1 to Stevenage Borough on Saturday at the Deva Stadium - their first league defeat in 19 games.

City boss Mark Wright was brutally honest at the end of the game. He said: "I thought in the first half we didn't get out of bed, they outbattled us.

"Let's give credit to them, they battled well, we need to impose ourselves and take games to teams, unfortunately, we didn't do that against Stevenage."

The match started at a frenetic pace, a delightful run from midfield by City's Alex Smith saw him involve Rapley before Clare brought out a full length save from f ormer Sunderland keeper Lionel Perez.

Baptiste was unfortu-nate for the visitors when a curling 20-yard effort rattled the City bar and Elding and Holloway both had shots that went narrowly wide.

Rapley had a good chance to put City in the lead following a pinpoint cross from Guyatt, but the striker failed to connect with the ball and the chance went begging.

Stevenage took the lead after 37 minutes through their leading scorer Elding, across from the right by Maamria was deflected over Brown, and Elding had a simple job to head home from close range.

The visitors doubled their advantage after 75 minutes, when a defensive mix-up allowed Baptiste time and space to nip in and score from 10 yards.

Chester piled forward towards the end of the game, and substitute Michael Twiss brought them back into the match two minutes into injury time. Stamp was the orchestrator setting Twiss free, and his angled effort beat Perez.

In the fifth minute of injury time, City thought they had equalised but Perez made a superb stop from Stamp's header.

Chester City: Brown, Collins, Bolland, Guyatt (Twiss 66 mins), McIntyre, Smith, Davies, Carey, Ruffer, Rapley (Stamp 66 mins), Clare.