Match verdict: Notts County 1 Chester 2

IT TOOK an age for the players to emerge from the home dressing-room. At one point it seemed like no one was going to be willing to come out and talk to the huddle of press stood at the mouth of the tunnel.

Slowly, and silently, one or two started to filter out; Richard Butcher, then Phil Picken. The on-loan right-back gave a wave, but no words.

Jamie Clapham was next. He managed a nod of acknowledgment as he carried his muddied boots and damaged pride into the boot room, before making his exit. His hurt at the uncharacteristic mistake he made to gift Chester a second goal, a killer goal at the start of the second half was obvious even from a distance.

The responsibility of explanation fell to captain John Thompson in the end, almost as if he had been told it came with the armband. Thompson is a player who is frequently requested for interview after defeats for no other reason than he is often still impressive in defeat, and he always expresses himself very well.

Like his team-mates, his disappointment, despair even, was clear – and still raw.

It would have been easy for him to be abrupt, to say as little as possible. After all, some people don't like to be critical even in such sorry circumstances as a loss to Chester, a side who had not won since Boxing Day and one that could fall out of the Football League.

But Thompson, to his enormous credit, was typically open and honest – and his assessment was, like boss Ian McParland's before him, pretty blunt.

The overriding theme of his thoughts was that the players had let themselves, their manager and the supporters down, badly. And he was right, they had. They should not be losing to a side like Chester, should they? The Magpies undoubtedly have greater quality. The visitors, however, are in greater need of the points in their scrap for survival and it showed.

Of course, they were gifted both goals but, still, it showed in their energy and urgency and the way they held on to their lead as if their lives depended on it.

It pained Thompson to reel off Notts' familiar flaws of conceding poor goals and not taking their own chances because every time the players say they are determined to sort it out and don't, their words appear hollow.

Chester's first goal was borne from abysmal defending. Firstly, Butcher got his attempted clearing header from a corner all wrong and the ball only looped to the far post. And secondly, Dave Mannix was unmarked. The midfielder had the simplest of finishes and duly headed into the net from close-range.

If anyone thought it couldn't get any worse, it did just four minutes into the second half when Clapham got in a monumental mess. The experienced left-back, who has been one of the club's most consistent performers since arriving at Meadow Lane in September, tried to head the ball back to keeper Kevin Pilkington but sold him terribly short.

Paul Rutherford beat Pilkington to it and prodded it towards goal and Ryan Lowe had an even easier finish than Mannix, side-footing into the empty net from point-blank range. It was shocking stuff. At 2-0, it was all over.

Mike Edwards re-ignited hope the Magpies could stage a late, late fightback when he netted his second goal of the season in the dying stages, but they were unable to rescue a point in the end. They didn't deserve one.

It was a cool finish from the defender as he lifted the ball over Lowe, who had replaced injured John Danby in goal in the absence of a substitute keeper on the visitors' bench.

Notts were guilty of missing a series of chances, none more so than Delroy Facey in the first half. The big striker can be so frustrating at times.

He has shown this season he is capable of scoring good goals but against Chester he missed a glaring opportunity to equalise only three minutes after Mannix had broken the deadlock.

Myles Weston measured a pinpoint low cross into the penalty area from the left wing but Facey somehow managed to lift the ball high and wide at the near post. It was a terrible miss, and a costly one too.

Facey also struck a sliding effort into the side-netting at the far post in the second half, after Thompson had broken into the box and cut a dangerous cross back across the face of goal; it was a more difficult chance.

It was Picken who went closest to scoring before Edwards' strike. The defender was almost alone in producing a good performance. He threatened to score his first goal for the club in the early stages of the first half but had a shot blocked by Chester skipper Paul Linwood and then rifled the rebound narrowly wide.

In the second half, he thundered a long-range effort against the crossbar, after cutting inside on to his left foot.

Substitute Sean Canham, who had replaced Clapham and formed a three-man attack with Facey and fellow sub Jonathan Forte, headed the rebound straight at Danby.

Forte made an impact on his introduction in place of Jamie Forrester and was memorably denied by Lowe as he tried to steer a header into the top corner. The makeshift keeper parried it away.

Lowe also blocked a second shot from the on-loan striker minutes later, before Edwards beat him with the rebound.

The Magpies' players exited down the tunnel to a chorus of boos from the home fans on the final whistle. It is now four games since Notts won at Meadow Lane, as Chester inflicted a ninth league defeat on home soil – and arguably the worst of them all.