Without the injured Linney. Altrincham nevertheless fielded a strong eleven for the majority of this game. But a pronounced lack of goal threat was once again evident as the Robins lost their first pre-season game in their sixth summer fixture.

After a first half-hour in which neither goalkeeper was seriously worked, Nuttall rattled the bar with a thunderous shot from distance (35 mins) and Ross pulled off a double save from Chester's Caton but that was about it in terms of first-half goalmouth excitement (38 mins).

Chester netted the only goal of the afternoon midway through the second half.

The goal was well constructed by the hosts but it took three shots in succession to breach the Alty defence as Ross saved the first shot, a second effort was also blocked before the net was found at the third attempt by Woodthorpe.

The goal arrived just five minutes before Alty made a planned six-player substitution which introduced Academy and trial players into the game.

The introduction of trialist Reddin gave Alty more forward momentum up the right wing, and he won three corners in his twenty-minute cameo, but Chester held out without too much trouble.

SCORERS:

• 67 mins: Nathan WOODTHORPE (Chester FC 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)

As well as the injured Regan Linney, centre-back Lewis Baines was also missing from the Altrincham squad. Marriott and Crankshaw remain sidelined by last season's injuries and are not expected to participate until spetember.

For Chester, former Alty man Tom Peers was not involved but Mitch Hancox started for the hosts.

LINE-UPS:

CHESTER FC (Blue shirts and socks and black shorts): 1. Cameron Mason, 2. Jordan Hunter, 3. Matty Williams, ?. Ben Pollock, 14. Nathan Woodthorpe, 18. Jack Bainbridge, 20. Iwan Murray, 7. Mitch Hancox, 10. Charlie Caton, 11. Dan Turner, 9. Kurt Willoughby. Subs: 13. Alex Brown, 4. Declan Weeks, 8. George Glendon, 12. Kevin Roberts, 19. Reece Daly, 22. Ollie Heywood, 23. Oskar Rosenblatt.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 1. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 5. Jake COOPER, 4. James JONES (c), 3. Eddy JONES, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 8. George WILSON, 10. Tom CRAWFORD, 7. Alex NEWBY, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 23. Joe NUTTALL. Subs: 12. Tylor GOLDEN, 14. Max HAYGARTH, 15. Joel BAILEY, 17. Matty KOSYLO, 18. Owen GERMAN, 19. Lucas WEAVER, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 20[GK]. Louie FALLON, 22. Ben KERSHAW.

Altrincham arrived unbeaten in five previous friendlies but they had found difficulty in scoring goals, with their most recent three goals of pre-season all being gifts from the opposition.

Altrincham kicked off towards the unoccupied home terrace, the home supporters being housed for this match in the East Stand, whilst Alty's supporters were in a different country, the West Stand, which lies across the national border in Wales.

The early stages saw Altrincham enjoying plenty of possession but this mostly consisted of lateral passing rather than penetrative balls to split the opposition defence.

When Crawford was upended inside the box, the referee's refusal to point to the spot elivited a round of applause from the home support (8 mins).

Play contiued with no hint of a goal threat at either end, but Alty were enjoying more of the ball.

Next, two fouls in as many minutes by Amaluzor earned him a word from the referee.

Despite the signing of the tall and strong striker Joe Nuttall, Alty have not adapted their passing style to exploit his physical advantages.

However, the Oldham loanee provided the first moment of true excitement in the game when Wilson did well to nod on a ball up the middle to the striker and Nuttall struck a fierce first-time shot which cannoned off the underside of the bar (35 mins).

Chester responed with their own best attacking moment of the half as Caton was played in but his shot was beaten out by Ross. The Alty keeper was fortunate to see the follow-up directed into his hands as he lay on the deck (38 mins).

With the interval approaching, an excellent three-pass move by Chester almost paid off but the final shot at the end of the move flew inches wide of the far post (43 mins).

Woodthorpe picked up a yellow card for hauling down Amaluzor (43 mins) before Eddy Jones hit the resulting freekick disappointingly well over the bar (45+1 mins).

The final ten minutes of the first half had contained pretty well all of the first-half's goalmouth excitement.

After a brief rain shower during the interval, Chester kicked off the second half, only for the ball to go flat and need replacement almost immediately.

Crawford soon prompted Amaluzor to win a corner which was taken short by the winger and the ball was returned to him. Amaluzor now hit a curling left-foot shot from the front edge of the box which only narrowly cleared the bar (54 mins).

Around the hour-mark, Newby got to the left bye-line before being halted, only for Chester to counter-attack with Turner ballooning a shot over the bar (60 mins).

At this point Chester took off Hancox, Reece and Murray in favour of Roberts, Glendon and Weeks. At the same time new signing Weaver and trialist Reddin came on for Amaluzor and Nuttall (61 mins).

Stoke City product Reddin soon impressed with a speedy run up the right touchline to get in a cross which earned a corner, which was to be folowed by a second, both taken by Eddy Jones (64 mins).

But as the second half reached its mid-point, a quick counter-attack saw Glendon feed Weeks. His effort was beaten out by Ross and a follow-up by Caton was cleared off the line before Woodthorpe found the back of the net, at the third attempt, to give Chester the lead (67 mins).

Afterwards, Reddin again got to the bye-line to win another corner (71 mins).

Soon afterwards, Altrincham made a further six changes as Golden, Kershaw, Kosylo, Haygarth, German and Bailey all came on to replace James Jones, Wilson, Banks, Newby, Eddy Jones and Osborne. Of these, Kosylo and Haygarth were the only representatives of last season's National League side to be brought on (72 mins).

Cooper now took over the Altrincham armband.

Each side won a corner in the next seven minutes before Chester brought on Rosenblatt for Caton (80 mins). Three minutes later, Academy keeper Fallon replaced Ross in the Alty goal (83 mins).

Opposite number Mason was now blatantly timewasting as Alty enjoyed most of the forward momentum in these closing stages. Reddin did win a third corner since had had come on but it again came to naught (88 mins).

Four added minutes were decreed but Alty were unable to snatch a late equaliser and so they suffered their first defeat of the summer.

The pre-season has produced positives in the performance of several young players and trialists, but it has also suggested that Altrincham have a problem in the goal-creation and scoring disciplines.

The loss of last season's top-scorer and assist-provider, Chris Conn-Clarke to Peterborough United; the continuing absences of the long-term injured Marriott and Crankshaw till at least September; the current injury to Linney, and a less than 100% fit Amaluzor, have all contributed to this state of affairs, as has the inability so far to refine Altrincham's playing style to bring out the best of Joe Nuttall.

In addition, the departure of Matt Gould has left a gap in the back-up cover for goalkeeper Ethan Ross. Whilst young Louie Fallon has done very well in pre-season, no more experienced keeper appears to be under active assessment.

There is still time to rectify some of these issues but it is now only two weeks till next season starts.