TWO second-half goals from Daryl Clare sent Chester City back to the top of the Nationwide Conference, but they were made to work hard by a tenacious Telford outfit.
Clare's brace brought his season's tally to 25 goals, in what the 2,000 travelling City supporters hope will be a championship-winning campaign.
The kick-off was delayed for 10 minutes to allow the travelling City supporters to get into the ground safely, and such was the excel-lent Chester following that extra space on the terracing had to be swiftly organised to house them all.
The first half was a fairly even affair, with both sides having chances. City began to settle and Heard rattled the Telford post from 20 yards.
Clare had the ball in the net after 22 minutes, following a knock-on from Stamp, but the score was ruled out for offside.
The deadlock was broken after 75 minutes when City were awarded a penalty after Carey had been pushed by Howarth in the area.
Up stepped Clare and he sent an inch-perfect spot-kick into the corner of the net, giving Taylor no chance.
Clarke continued to protest against the award of the penalty, and he was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
In injury time City wrapped up the points when they doubled their advantage with a classically taken goal from their leading scorer.
CHESTER CITY: Woods, Collins, McIntyre, Bolland, Smith (Twiss 46), Clare, Carey, Carden, Stamp (Davies 90), Guyett, Heard. Subs: Rapley, Lane, Elam.
