Chester more than matched their visitors last night for the opening half, and contrived to miss a gilt-edged scoring chance after the break before ultimately flattering to deceive.

Many Blues fans shook their heads in disbelief when they realised Kevin Ellison had steered a four-yard header straight at Bradford keeper Scott Leach, when it seemed easier to convert the chance.

But life is full of hard knocks for City at the moment on the back of their miserable 2-0 derby defeat at home to Wrexham.

And after their eight successive home defeats newly-appointed Blues boss, Simon Davies, is under no illusion about the enormity of the challenge facing him and his side for the remaining nine games of the campaign.

Davies made a few subtle changes to his line-up on the back of the Wrexham loss, opting to switch Tony Dinning into central defence and place Kevin Roberts in central midfield.

And he replaced hamstring injury victom Chris Holroyd with young striker, Paul McManus, and replaced Kevin Sandwith with right winger Paul Rutherford.

Bradford, who had beaten City twice already this term, secured 14th place in the league table with their victory at the Deva and provided plenty of food for thought for the City defence in the opening exchanges as Paul Heckingbottom's opening minute free kick was cleared by Roberts, and City keeper, John Danby, pulled off a superb save to deny Peter Thorne, seconds later.

McManus countered in the second minute with a shot that cleared the bar by inches, and the pacey striker latched onto a touch from strike partner John Murphy in the ninth minute and forced Leach into a save.

Rutherford jinked his way along the right flank at the slightest opportunity, but his 10th minute cross for Ellison cleared the midfielder by a foot at the back post.

Danby conceded a free kick in the 24th minute when he picked up a Dinning back pass, but the City keeper was well positioned to save Paul Evans' goalbound attempt.

Chester looked composed in possession, but they were restricted to long range shooting practice and blocked shots, including a six yard effort from Murphy which cannoned off Thomas Moncur in the 31st minute.

The most impressive Bradford player was midfielder Joe Colbeck who exhibited pace, vision, and bags of confidence as he surged forward to carve chances. He capped his first half display with a powerful run and a 20-yard shot which dipped over the bar.

Blues fans looked disillusioned with their side's failure to build on a promising opening half performance.

Bradford, spurred on by team boss Stuart McCall in the technical area, began to turn the screw and ask questions of the City defence.

Evans hoisted a 47th minute corner onto the roof of the City net, and Kyle Nix saw his 48th minute goalbound shot deflect off Dinning who was also in the right place at the right time to deny Barry Conlon's 51st minute effort.

Mark Hughes punctuated the upbeat start from the visitors when he unleashed a volley wide of the right post from 20 yards, and McManus stung the fingers of Leach with a low strike that needed gathering at the second attempt.

But Bradford provided notice of their hunger for maximum points when Nix flicked a header goalwards which James Vaughan cleared off the line.

And the visitors punished a dreadful lapse in concentration by City's defence in the 66th minute when Evans picked out Conlon unmarked on the edge of the box, and the striker had time to control the ball on his chest before smashing his shot beyond Danby into the left corner of the net.

But Chester should have been back on level terms eight minutes later when Rutherford centred for Ellison whose bullet header from four yards forced Leach into a reflex save before the ball was cleared.

Ellison held his head in his hands after realising he had squandered Chester's best opportunity of an equaliser.

Bradford brought on substitute Alex Rhodes in place of Nix in the 77th minute, and Rhodes forced Danby into a tip over save within a minute of his introduction.

And Bradford came within inches of doubling their advantage in the 79th minute when Conlon crashed a powerful 10 yard shot off the bar.

The Yorkshire club were demonstrating their strength, but Thorne failed to connect with a fine left wing cross from Rhodes 10 minutes from time, and Conlon sliced his 20-yard attempt wide of the mark in the 87th minute.