CHESTER have the chance to prove the doubters wrong with victory over Curzon Ashton.

The Blues have suffered back-to-back defeats after a strong start to the campaign, following up a 2-1 National League North loss at Spennymoor with an embarrassing FA Cup fourth qualifying round humbling at the hands of lower league Marine on Saturday.

Chester have the chance to put those defeats behind them as Curzon Ashton head to the Deva Stadium this evening (Tuesday) with three important points at stake.

Joint-boss Bernard Morley accepts that it will be difficult for him and Anthony Johnson to galvanise their group of players after Saturday’s defeat to Neil Young’s Marine, however.

“Naturally it will be (difficult), of course it will,” Morley told reporters. “One thing myself and Jonno have got a reputation for is getting these players up and getting them out.

“Slowly but surely after results like that people start to doubt you.

“Tuesday is massive in more ways than one.

“In terms of the club it is a massive blow for them, but we’ve got to pick them back up. One or two things were said in there were really personal towards five or six players, not just one or two.

“Collectively we’ve all said it, we win together, we lose together and we draw together.

“We’ve got to take a look at ourselves and if it’s the team and tactics that are wrong we take it as managers, but if the tactics are right and we still haven’t won, we still take it as managers.”

Only one goal in their last two matches, courtesy of central defender Danny Livesey, is one of the main issues Chester need to solve, starting this evening.

George Waring, Anthony Dudley and Lloyd Marsh-Hughes all stepped off the bench on Saturday, but were unable to help the Blues find a crucial goal.

Morley revealed: “People need to take accountability and when players pull us and say ‘Gaffer I need to be playing, I need to do this’ - there’s your chance, come on and score two goals.

“The body language from the substitutions isn’t good enough.

“You can’t question the desire to want to win, we threw everything at them, but we couldn’t break them down because we lacked quality and that cutting edge in the final third.

“Let’s be honest, go back to Saturday at Spennymoor. We played really well, but we didn’t take our chances in the final third, we don’t kill games off, so we have to look at ourselves.

“We can’t go and sign anyone, we can’t improve the squad because we haven’t got the resources to do that, so we will work with what we’ve got.

“It’s about believing we can go and win against Curzon Ashton.”

Boston United have the chance to go top of the table with a heavy home victory over Guiseley, who are bossed by ex-Chester man Marcus Bignot and Russ O’Neill.

Bradford Park Avenue have lost both of their opening two league matches this season, but have the chance to get their first points with a positive result at Hereford this evening.