James Jones received plenty of deserved praise for his part in Chester FC 's 1-0 win over Solihull Moors at the weekend .

The 18-year-old academy graduate made his senior debut alongside Ryan Astles and Myles Anderson in the vital six-pointer against fellow relegation strugglers Moors on Saturday and put in an assured display at the back, looking like a seasoned National League pro.

While Jones would have been the pick for some in the crowd on Saturday to pick up the coveted man of the match accolade, it was striker James Akintunde who got the nod from the match sponsors.

But the Chester striker thought Jones was a more deserving recipient and handed over the honour - and the bottle of Champagne - to Jones for his efforts.

"I think there were a few man of the matches for me but as a debut, coming in and performing like that, it was really good work from Jonah and he looked in place and never looked out of depth once," said Akintunde.

"He won his challenges, first balls and second balls and I thought he showed he really wanted it. He took his chance and he deserved to be man of the match for me, so I wanted to make sure he had something to show for it."

Akintunde believes the two-week break helped the Blues coming into the contest and that the group has become closer as a result as they bid to haul themselves away from the National League relegation zone.

"The break definitely helped and the team has got closer this past week," he said.

"I thought it really helped. The togetherness, when we scored a goal previously we might have gone on to concede but we stuck together and managed to get the win, and even though we might have played better I think it was a good performance to get the win because we really needed that.

"That was for the fans because they came out and they helped clear the pitch and get the game on and all credit needs to go to them for that. They were huge for us and the only thing we could have done was to go and win that game and we did. It was really important and gives us some confidence to push on."