IT was hardly a contender for match of the season, but Sunday's derby with the Shrews presented City's young guns with a thorough and testing examination of their first-team credentials.
Chris Holroyd, Paul Rutherford, James Vaughan and debutant Shaun Kelly stood up to the challenge well on an afternoon when City fans were outnumbered by their Salopian counterparts.
Shrewsbury carved out the three clearest scoring chances of the first half, but Dave Edwards failed to convert the first two and Dave Artell's block denied ex-City star Derek Asamoah for the third.
The Shrews continued to chip away at the Chester defence and Asamoah saw a powerful free-kick palmed away by John Danby, with Artell denying Michael Symes from scoring from the rebound.
Town sub Andy Cooke clipped Danby's crossbar with a late volley, then Chester almost snatched the points when Shrews keeper Scott Shearer saved Vaughan's close-range flick.
Star man: Dave Artell.
Chester: Danby, Linwood (Kelly 75), Hessey, Artell, Vaughan, Hand, Rutherford, Bennett, Sandwith, Holroyd, Yeo (Meechan 87). Subs: Steele, Wilson, Cronin.
Booked: Linwood.
Shrewsbury: Shearer, Canoville, Langmead, Hope, Tierney, M Jones (Cooke 63), Edwards (Hall 85), Drummond, Ashton, Asamoah, Symes (Fortune-West 84). Subs: MacKenzie, L Jones.
Booked: Langmead, Tierney.
Attendance: 3,266.
Referee: Paul Taylor (Hertfordshire).
