Chester City 1, Tamworth 0: CHESTER scored their first goal of the Conference season on Tuesday and it was enough to earn them victory against newcomers Tam-worth, writes Ian Bedford.

But they made hard work of opening their account against a team which looks destined to find it hard at the higher level. The visitors were full of endeavour but lacked attacking imagination, and home goalkeeper Wayne Brown had his second quiet match in a row.

With so many players out through injury and suspension, though, it is difficult to gauge how far City have come from the end of last season.

Judging by the number of goals they've scored in two matches, the answer could be not very far, but with Daryl Clare still waiting to come back to prove he can reproduce the form which made him so lethal in front of goal on his arrival at the Deva Stadium, and newcomers Kevin Rapley, Ian Foster and Robert Gill still trying to forge an understanding, it's clearly too soon to be over-critical.

Defensively, City appear to have moved forward. Even without Phil Bolland and Scott Guyett, the defence remains as solid as ever to confirm there is great strength in depth and the midfield continues to be hard-working, if at times lacking a bit of creative flair.

Tamworth, beaten at home by Hereford on their Conference debut, were at their best in the first half and had enough of the ball to keep the Chester defence on its toes, while at the other end, Phil Whitehead had to wait until a minute before the break to deal with the first shot on target, a long-range effort from Rapley which didn't give him much trouble.

Chester sent on Ian Foster for injured Andy Harris at the start of the second half and immediately played with three up front.

That change of tactics had a dramatic effect, with Rapley's overhead kick forcing a save from Whitehead and, from the resulting corner by Kevin McIntyre, defender Carl Ruffer sneaked in to head what proved to be the winner.

City went on to dominate the half but, as in many games last season, failed to turn their obvious superiority into goals, and the closest they went to scoring again was from a Wayne Hatswell header which Whitehead saved.

Tamworth's night went from bad to worse when Mark McGregor was sent off in the last minute following his second yellow card. But even down to 10 men, they managed to produce an anxious moment for Chester in a goalmouth scramble moments from time.

Manager Mark Wright was quick to admit his team should have won more convincingly. 'If I'm honest, we should have been two or three up by half-time and the game would have been done and dusted,' he said.

'But I was very pleased with the way we handled things defensively. Wayne Hat-swell did a lot of good things for us and did very, very well. People are going to find it hard to get back in, especially if we keep playing like that.'

Chester: Brown, Collins, McIntyre, Carden, Hatswell, Harris (Foster 45), Davies, Rapley (Beesley 90), Ruffer, Gill (Brodie 90), Heard. Subs: Carey, McCaldon.

Booked: Harris, Gill. Tamworth: Whitehead, Setchell, Cooper, Warner, Fisher, Collins, McGregor, Rickards (Darby 71), Trainer, Barnard, Jordan. Subs: Turner, Hanney, Johnson, Lindley.

Sent off: McGregor (90). Booked: Mc-Gregor, Fisher, Warner, Collins, Setchell.

Referee: S Dorr, Worcester. Attendance: 2,267.