Chester earned only their second victory of the year as a 2-1 home win over Darlington seriously dented the Quakers' automatic promotion bid.The home side took the lead in the sixth minute when the Darlington defence partially cleared Kevin Roberts' cross and the ball fell to Paul Rutherford whose sweetly-struck shot from 12 yards gave goalkeeper David Stockdale no chance.

Chester doubled their advantage after 36 minutes through a superb effort by Richie Partridge, the winger being played in by Chris Holroyd before expertly curling the ball past the despairing dive of Stockdale.

Darlington had the ball in the net through substitute Richie Foran, who poked the ball home from close range after 72 minutes, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

The Quakers did pull a goal back after 84 minutes to ensure a nervy finish when Steve Foster's shot from just inside the box went in off the post and Paul McManus stuck the crossbar with a minute left as Chester picked up a deserved victory.

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