Having had the delirium that comes with a late winner on Tuesday, Chester FC were left to lick their wounds after succumbing to an injury-time winner at Maidstone United.

Having seemingly done enough to earn a share of the spoils Chester were beaten 1-0 when centre back Alex Finney slammed home four minutes into injury time to see Marcus Bignot’s side leave Kent empty handed.

The result means that Chester are now back in the relegation zone after results elsewhere.

Chester came into the clash buoyed by the late drama at home to Barrow on Tuesday night, where Lucas Dawson’s 94th-minute strike earned the Blues a valuable three points as a 3-2 win hauled them out of the bottom four of the National League.

Maidstone sat in 10th place ahead of kick off, one point off the play-off places. But Jay Saunders’ side had won just two of their eight games at the Gallagher Stadium, although they had drawn five of those games and lost just once.

Blues boss Bignot made one enforced change to the side that beat the Bluebirds in midweek with Andy Halls coming into the side in place of the injured Tom Shaw, who picked up a knock on Tuesday and was unable to recover in time.

Chester had a chance to open the scoring inside the opening two minutes following a flowing move down the right hand side.

Ross Hannah’s flick set Reece Hall-Johnson free down the right and the former Maidstone man got to the byline, cutting back into the box to find Kingsley James who touched on to Lucas Dawson 18 yards out, but his effort skewed wide of Lee Worgan’s left-hand post.

But the home side soon settled and Tom Wraight tested Alex Lynch with a 20-yard free kick before former West Ham United man Zavon Hines lashed over from a 16-yard angle after Paul Turnbull had been unable to clear his lines on the edge of the area.

Lynch was called into action on 10 minutes when Hines tried his luck from 20 yards, with the Chester keeper pushing it out from a corner.

And the hosts threatened from the resulting corner when Delano Sam-Yorke nodded just wide.

At the other end Ryan Astles went close when he made a late run to the back post and met a Dawson free-kick with his left foot but was unable to control his effort and it flashed wide.

And Ross Hannah may feel he could have done better when he screwed a left-footed effort well wide after finding room to operate in the box, with the screams of Turnbull in support ignored.

Chester were certainly giving a better account of themselves than they had done in the 4-2 loss at the Gallagher Stadium, where they were 4-0 down at the break, and Dawson saw a 25-yard curled effort gathered by Worgan in the Stones goal on 25 minutes.

The Blues were playing some decent stuff going forward and were quick to win the second ball in midfield.

And they were presented with a great chance on 34 minutes when Hannah chased on to an Jordan Archer flick on.

Worgan raced out to meet it but lost possession on the edge of the area and the ball found Archer 20 yards out, but he couldn’t get a clean look and saw his strike cannon away of Alex Wynter and away to safety.

But Maidstone came on strong in the final 10 minutes of the half and put plenty of pressure on the Blues backline.

It looked like the deadlock was to be broken on 40 minutes when a short Hines free kick was knocked on to the dangerous Stuart Lewis whose vicious drive from 18 yards which deflected onto a post before rebounding into the grateful arms of Lynch.

HALF TIME: MAIDSTONE UNITED 0 CHESTER FC 0

Maidstone came out on the front foot in the opening exchanges of the second half and fashioned an opportunity within the first two minutes when Hines bamboozled Jordan Gough on the left before teeing up Josh Hare who fooled some in the stadium when he rifled his effort into the side netting.

And the Stones went close again on 50 minutes when Hines won a free kick on the left edge of the penalty area, with Joe Pigott seeing his curled effort fly just over Lynch’s crossbar and out to safety.

But Chester were struggling to get out of their own half early on and the home side went close, again through Pigott. The big Stones striker turned John McCombe in the box with ease before curling an effort inches past the far post.

Despite it not being a particulary dirty game, referee Adrian Quelch booked three players after a flare up with 13 minutes remaining after James and Lewis clashed before a dozen others from both sides needlessly got involved. James, Alex Finney and Seth Nana Twumasi the men to see yellow.

The second half wasn’t offering up the attacking urgency of the first and chances were few and far between for both side.

Stones substitute Jamar Loza did go close when he saw a header from a Hines cross, but Lynch was equal to it.

And Astles had to be alert to dive in and block Delano Sam-Yorke from pulling the trigger at point-blank range after he played a one-two with Pigott. Lynch gathered the loose ball.

There were a mammoth seven minutes to be added on at the end of the 90 minutes and Chester came close to snatching a winner when McCombe nodded inches wide from a Dawson free kick.

But having been on the winning end of a last-minute strike on Tuesday, the Blues were on the wrong end this time around.

A corner was only half cleared four minutes into injury time and it fell to centre back Finney to slam home from 12 yards to earn the three points.

It was rough on the Blues who deserved a share of the spoils.

MATCH FACTS

Maidstone United: Worgan, Hare, Finney, Wynter, Lewis, Sam-Yorke, Wraight (Loza 74), Reason, Twumasi, Hines, Pigott (ter Horst 90). Subs: Prestedge, Muldoon, Anderson.

Bookings: Wraight, Twumasi, Finney.

Goals: Finney 90+4.

Chester: Lynch, Halls, James, Astles, McCombe, Turnbull (Rowe-Turner 90), Dawson, Hall-Johnson, Gough, Hannah (White 84), Archer (Zanzala 90). Subs: Mitchell, Bell.

Bookings: Halls, Gough, Dawson, James, Hannah, McCombe.

Goals: None.

Referee: Adrian Quelch.

Attendance: 2,351 (116 from Chester).

Star man: Reece Hall-Johnson.