Action from the National Leagues North and South
Goals from Michael Sweet and Adam Wrightson saw Blyth Spartans climb out of the relegation zone after they held second-top Chester to a draw.
A three-goal victory could have seen visitors Chester go top of the league and they got off to a perfect start with Danny Elliott’s early goal.
But Blyth recovered well and would have been leading at half-time but for Matty Hughes’ leveller just before the interval.
Both sides had chances to win it after the break too but neither were able to find the finishing touch.
Blyth manager Lee Clark said: “I’m very proud of the players. They responded after the set-back from the free-kick and showed great courage and determination.
“Chester are a great side. They’ve got lots of experience and know-how in terms of game management, but we still had chances in the second half.
“My players, to a man, were terrific and they have been for the last five or six weeks. The players that have come in have made a massive difference.
“This was us saying ‘listen, this Blyth Spartans of the last month is a completely different animal to what it was two months ago’.”
Chester took the lead just three minutes in, Elliott’s deflected free-kick beating Mark Foden after Hughes had been fouled by Tom Devitt.
Blyth bounced back immediately with Sweet heading in a Lewis Hawkins cross from the right.
The hosts then went ahead midway through the half when Wrightson picked up the ball from the halfway line. After starting the move, the pacey winger drove into the box before firing a deflected strike past Russ Griffiths in the Blues’ goal.
Sweet should have made it three soon afterwards when he burst clean through but ended up seeing his shot cleared off the line.
Chester, hammered 8-1 at Croft Park last season, were level five minutes before the break, Hughes firing past Spartans stopper Foden after being played in by Brad Jackson.
Hughes should have added a second late on to win it after beating the offside trap and rounding Foden. But he could only watch his shot at an open goal agonisingly bounce back off the post.
Chester joint manager Anthony Johnson said: “I’m disappointed that we haven’t got the win to put a bit more pressure on York at the top.
“But it’s difficult to expect to win because you can’t
miss four or five gilt-edged chances away from home.
“We showed a good bit of resilience by coming back from 2-1 down but I’m disappointed in the amount of chances we didn’t take.
“The York game next weekend becomes even bigger now. If we want to go top, we have to beat them.”