BANGOR City Men’s Hockey 1st team lost out 1-0 at Chester on Saturday.

Defences were firmly on top throughout the first half, which led to a 0-0 stalemate at half time.

Good saves from both City keeper Rayshauun Suen and the Chester custodian saw both sides being denied short corner conversions early in the second half.

The tight contest continued, but a period of ill-disciplined defending and poor marking led to a scrambled goal for the home side. An equalising drag-flick from Ash Hardaker was saved by off the line by the Chester keeper, as City were denied the crucial goal.

There was plenty of spirited attacking play by the away side in the final minutes of the game, with Gwion Jones and Dave Paterson going close. But as has been Bangor’s problem all season, those chances could not be converted and the game was concluded a 1-0 loss.

Bangor’s depleted seconds side surrendered a one-goal half time lead, as they eventually went down 3-1 at home to Lymm 2nds.

A Sam Darbyshire drag flick put ten-man City one nil up at the break, with Bangor captain Keith Proudlove pulling off some smart stops to keep it that way.

However, with a man advantage, the visitors upped the tempo after the break and three unanswered goals broke the Bangor resistance to leave them empty-handed.

Bangor firsts play host to Liverpool Sefton on Saturday (2.15pm), while the seconds are away to Bowden 5s (11.45am).