Chester FC manager Marcus Bignot was disappointed with the manner of his side's 2-0 home defeat to play-off chasing Dover Athletic on Tuesday night but did give credit for his '£200 team' for going toe to toe with the Whites.
After a strong first half the Blues collapsed in a fashion that has become typical over the last 18 months as a Kevin Lokko header and a Ryan Astles own goal ensured a comfortable success for Chris Kinnear's side in front of the lowest Chester home crowd for a league game since their reformation.
Bignot revealed after the game that his side that took to the field averaged out at £200 per week, a figure dwarfed by last night's opposition.
He said: "We worked it out that the average price of our team, because there is a lot of players playing for free and a lot of teenagers, the average wage across the team was £200. For a £200 team we certainly went toe to toe with a play-off team in this league.
"One of the aspects for us is that we have zero physicality, that is something we have got to bring into the team and it ain't going to happen overnight. But we are technically a good team and they are technically good players. They are getting there so there are a lot of positives.
"We are going in the right direction with what we want to do here. You clearly know what Dover's identity is, but what is Chester's?"
Lokko was able to head home unmarked for the opener on 65 minutes before Astles put past debutant Chester stopper Andy Firth for the second seven minutes later after the game had opened up following Bignot's decision to switch to a back three after the first goal in an attempt to find a route back.
It was a decision he stood by.
Bignot said: "Second half we started slow and we got ourselves back in it in terms of momentum, but to concede the two goals it was disappointing to have conceded off a corner. The game opened up a little bit (for the second goal) and that's when they got their goal, they got in behind us.
"But the players are giving everything and there was a lot of teenagers on that pitch, but I was disappointed second half that we never put enough balls into the box and that is something that they will learn from because you have got to put the ball in the box and ask questions of the opposition and it is where mistakes can happen.
"The way they play they go man for man all over the pitch and they want to let one of their centre halves free, and they leave one of our defenders free. Although we went to three at the back there was always a spare defender at the back. It was a case of we had possession of the ball in our half, we lost it which opened up the space and their speed, we couldn't recover quick enough.
"I can understand why people say make a change but we were losing a game we had to win so to get three centre forwards on the pitch, we had to be brave so we took one out of the back line."
