Chester FC boss Jon McCarthy believes his side were hard done to in coming away empty handed from their clash with Lincoln City last night.

The Blues went down to a 1-0 defeat in front of almost 7,500 fans at Sincil Bank as the National League leaders edged themselves closer to a return to the Football League.

Harry Anderson’s 35th-minute goal was enough to separate the sides in a game where both teams ended with 10 men after Alan Power and Kane Richards saw straight red cards in the second half.

The Blues were vastly improved from their 2-0 home defeat to York City on Saturday and McCarthy, who opted for a three-pronged attack, was full of praise for the way his players competed.

“I think people thought this would be a simple victory for Lincoln, and it wasn’t,” said the Chester boss.

“I am very proud of the performance and we wish Lincoln all the best. What they’ve done this season, they do deserve to get promoted and I hope they do it in style as champions.

Harry Anderson puts Lincoln City 1-0 up against Chester

“It was just a really good performance, you don’t have to mention Saturday. It was an outstanding performance against the league leaders away from home.

“There were big performances form all of my players. Our players never took a backfoot all night and competed so well against them. We decided we weren’t going to sit back and wait like I saw Dagenham do here, we put three up (front) against them to give ourselves a chance.

“The players were outstanding and picked up on everything that we asked them to do and I feel for them a little bit that they have come away with nothing.”

Defeat for Chester leaves them in 14th on 52 points while the Lincoln have one foot in the Football League after extending their lead to three points at the top over nearest rivals Tranmere Rovers, beaten 1-0 at home to Forest Green Rovers.

Chester are back in action on Friday (3pm) when they make the trip to Gloucestershire to take on Forest Green at the New Lawn.