Steve Burr was happy with his side’s performance in the win at Aldershot Town but the Chester FC manager says his players need to become more ruthless in front of goal.
Chester controlled the game for long periods, particularly in the first-half, but spurned a number of good scoring chances before coming under pressure as the Shots pushed for an equaliser but held on for a 1-0 victory at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.
Anything less than three points would have been unfair on the Blues, who could have been two or three goals up before half-time.
John Rooney’s penalty in the 14th minute, awarded after Oli McBurnie had been brought down inside the box, gave them a 1-0 advantage at the interval and that proved enough for the victory.
McBurnie, Craig Hobson and Matty Hughes had decent opportunities to put the result to bed but the failure to convert them kept Aldershot in the game, although Jon Worsnop was never seriously tested in the Chester goal.
“I was a bit disappointed we didn’t score more goals, we’ve got to kill teams off,” said Burr afterwards.
“I thought we played well first-half and created a number of chances but even second-half we’ve had some good chances to score and then you get that nervy five or 10 minutes at the end where they’re throwing bodies forward and we’re just getting a bit ragged.
“But I’m pleased to come here and win. These have had a turnaround since Chris (Barker) took over and I’m pleased that we’ve got another three points.”
Chester, who made one change from the 3-1 defeat of Dover Athletic with Michael Kay taking the place of Ben Heneghan in defence, made a good start on a lush pitch and Rooney gave them a deserved lead from the spot.
McBurnie had an effort cleared off the line and Craig Hobson headed over from close range as the Blues bossed the opening 45 minutes.
Aldershot came into the game more in the second period but the better chances continued to fall to Chester with Hobson and Matty Hughes going closest before Mark Molesley and sub Andre McCollin forced Worsnop into action in the closing stages but the Shots couldn’t argue with the end result.
Burr said: “I felt quite comfortable but you never know and this league can be quite ruthless at times. At 1-0 I’m always looking for that second and third just to give you a cushion.
We just wanted to go for that second goal but I suppose overall they never really looked like scoring apart from the last five or 10 minutes when they had a couple of opportunities which was a bit of careless play by us I felt.
“I just thought our shooting was really weak and that was poor. It’s not like we don’t do shooting during the week but sometimes that happens. We’ve got to kill teams off and we had an opportunity to do that but thankfully we got over the line and managed to get the three points.”
