Ten-man Moors succumbed to a second successive home defeat as Chester continued their recent impressive run with a 3-0 victory at The Brewery Field.

Jason Ainsley’s men were fully punished for failing to take advantage of a promising first 20 minutes during which they created several good chances before the visitors got a foothold in the game.

Already 2-0 down, John Lufudu’s red card on the stroke of half time left them with an almost impossible task when the defender was sent-off for allegedly denying a clear scoring opportunity.

Ainsley handed a debut to new signing Paul Blackett, who was partnered with Glen Taylor in attack, while Lufudu was brought back in from the start in place of the suspended Finn Cousin-Dawson.

Moors made a lively start too, and Taylor came within a whisker of opening the scoring within two minutes when he turned smartly on the edge of the before seeing his drilled shot flash wide of the post.

Danny Greenfield then tested the Chester keeper Harry Tyrer with a well-struck free-kick which curled over the wall but was palmed round the post by the visiting stopper.

Chester weren’t seeing much of the ball and Moors continued to dominate, with Blackett looking a threat through the middle and Taylor coming close again after some good football down the left.

However, on 20 minutes everything changed. A Chester free-kick was hung into the far post where it fell kindly for centre-back Harrison Burke whose powerful shot picked up a deflection and looped over Gio Bellagambi for 1-0.

The momentum then swung in Chester’s favour as Moors struggled to clear their heads and the away side could have extended their lead but for Bellagambi parrying away Kole Hall’s effort.

It was 2-0 seven minutes before the break though when Blues skipper Declan Weeks crashed a long-range free-kick off the post and Moors failed to react quickly enough to stop Burke knocking home his second of the night from the rebound.

Things went from bad to worst in first half stoppage time when a punt over the top put pressure on Lufudu and, when Iwan Murray threatened to scamper clear, the Moors right-back upended him and was shown a straight red card.

The sending-off meant the second half became a bit of a non-event as Chester were content to simply keep possession and frustrate their hosts and Moors were unable to build any momentum.

A forgettable evening was capped on 69 minutes when Rob Ramshaw was caught in possession inside his own box and Chester substitute Anthony Dudley punished him by keeping his composure to score the visitors’ third.

There was no way back from that for Moors and they will now have to regroup quickly before playing host to high-flying Gloucester City at the weekend.

Full Time: Moors 0 Chester 3

Moors: Bellagambi, Lufudu, Tait (Anderson 78), Curtis, Kendall, Greenfield (Preston 82), Boyle, Allan, Ramshaw, Blackett (Forbes 46), Taylor.
Subs not used: Flatters, Duxbury.

Booked: Tait (32), Boyle (38).

Sent-off: Lufudu (45).

Chester: Tyrer, Weeks, Burke, Kenyon, Willoughby, Roberts, Devine, Coates (Morgan 80), Murray (Dudley 56), Hall (Thomas 70), Heywood.
Subs not used: Williams, Lynch.

Booked: Coates (16), Murray (52).

Referee: Helen Conley

Attendance: 1,312 (88 Chester)