Ryan Astles believes their is ‘no way’ he and his Chester FC teammates should have been on the losing side against Wrexham last night.

A Shaun Pearson header at the end of the first half proved decisive at the Swansway Chester Stadium in front of a crowd of over 4,000 where the Dragons, who moved joint top of the division with the three points, shut up shop to great effect in the second half to repel a Blues onslaught.

But for all their possession in the second period and hitting the woodwork twice, Chester were unable to work Wrexham keeper Chris Dunn and found the centre back pairing of Pearson and Manny Smith impossible to breach, with the Dragons holding on for a 1-0 success.

But it was rough luck on the Blues.

“We didn’t deserve to get beat, but on the other hand we didn’t test their keeper,” said Astles.

“One set piece has won the game. We had chances but didn’t test the keeper. I don’t think they have had a shot, really. The only shot they had was the goal.

“It’s hurt us all and we are all gutted because we know we shouldn’t have got beat and at least took a point. But it’s hard to say things after the game. There’s no way we should have got beat. We're all gutted in there."

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“They went 1-0 up and sat in and invited pressure, and they dealt with it well to be fair.”

Astles was forced to play much of the game in pain after suffering a gash on his foot after a challenge with Ntumba Massanka.

That injury needed eight stitches and meant Astles had to play through gritted teeth, but he says their wasn’t a chance he was coming off.

Said the 23-year-old centre back: “I was never going to come off. If I had broken my leg I would have stayed on. It is hard to talk after that but we have got 10 days to prepare for the next game (Bromley) and we need to go and pick up those three points.

“Hopefully the 10 days will help us out. We’ve been down to the bare bones.”

Chester now have nine days to prepare for the next National League game - a trip to Bromley on Saturday, November 18.

That game is followed by another trip to London three days later to face Leyton Orient. And with Chester sitting in the relegation zone and in danger of being cut adrift, Astles knows that no matter how well the Blues play it is points that are the most important thing.

“It’s a results business and we have only picked up four points from four games,” he said.

“We should have picked up a point at Maidstone, we should have beat Eastleigh and we should have picked up another point tonight. But we’ve got to move on and we’ve got to pick up points in the next couple of weeks.”