Marcus Bignot pointed to the positives from Chester FC ’s 1-1 draw at home to relegation rivals Hartlepool United.

The result means the Blues remain third from bottom in the National League standings.

But it did reduce the gap to safety to four points and it was an improved performance on Saturday’s 3-1 home loss to Gateshead.

And Bignot also took heart from the way his side responded to falling behind to earn a deserved share of the spoils courtesy of Harry White’s fourth goal in his last four league games.

The Chester manager said: “I was pleased with the performance and it could possibly have been three points rather than one.

“Their keeper has pulled off some really good saves and we had some momentum during a spell in the first half when we thought we could have come out of it with a goal.

“We finished strongly at the death, too, and we showed great character to come back as well. We had spoken about what we would do if we went a goal down and how we would respond from the lessons learned from Saturday. That was testament to the players.

“There were a lot of positive performances.”

Most notably from man-of-the-match James Jones and fellow 18-year-old academy graduate Tom Crawford on his full debut for the club.

Craig Mahon, on his first start since October 3, also impressed.

Bignot said: “We’ve got James Jones, who’s 18 years of age, Ryan Astles, who is 23, at the centre of our defence, and Tom Crawford making his debut (in midfield), and in terms of his debut, you would have thought he was a seasoned pro.

“Craig Mahon hasn’t been able to do a (full) week training yet. Prior to Christmas he’s not completed three training sessions. Imagine if we had a fully fit Mahony showing what he did tonight.

“Harry White’s in form and Jordan Archer, if he would have been able to play 90 minutes, he would have caused havoc up there... I could go on with the plusses for us tonight.

“Let’s not forget we’ve just played an ex-Football League club who kept seven or eight players from the team that played in the Football League last season, and we’ve got 18-year-olds and youngsters.

“They gave it everything, I’m really pleased, and the only disappointment is that we didn’t get the three points we deserved.”