Blues boss, Simon Davies, underlined his concern that Chester should have scored substantially more goals.

But summer signing Ryan Lowe, and striker John Murphy, saw second half opportunities frustratingly squandered.

The number of goalscoring chances certainly pleased Davies, but he will want to see his attack-minded squad producing a bigger return by the time the new campaign swings into action next month.

Blues fans turning up in the hope of watching French trialist Damien Mozika were disappointed to learn that his club, Nancy, hadn't completed the necessary paperwork.

But City did include experienced striker, Trevor Benjamin, in their starting line up, who had been part of Hereford United's promotion-winning squad last season.

Benjamin, a free agent after being released by the Bulls, was invited to line-up for the Blues in a bid to provide competition for John Murphy.

Benjamin looked an imposing figure in the City front line, and he won Chester a penalty in the first half, but he failed to put himself on the scoresheet despite completing 82 minutes before being replaced by substitute Shaun Kelly.

City enjoyed the majority of possession and opportunities during the early exchanges, with Kevin Ellison seeing his weak header easily gathered by home keeper Lloyd Rigby from Tony Dinning's cross.

Benjamin was well positioned to latch onto a Dinning pass a minute later, but his 10-yard effort was easily collected by Rigby.

And Ellison miscued on the right edge of the six yard box as Motors struggled to clear the danger.

Vauxhall were quite clearly under extreme pressure and it seemed only a matter of time before they trailed.

But Chester could feel rather fortunate about the penalty decision that led to their opening goal in the 21st minute. Benjamin was adjudged to have been fouled by Ritchie Gresty on the left edge of the box, and Premiership referee, Mike Dean, instinctively pointed to the spot before Dinning slotted the spotkick into the bottom right corner of the net.

Glenn Rule, who was growing in confidence in his left wing back role, attempted an angled shot in the 22nd minute which just missed the angle of left post and bar.

And Chester compounded Motors' problems by doubling their advantage in the 26th minute courtesy of a deflected shot from Stephen Vaughan after Ellison had nodded the ball down from an inch-perfect right wing centre from Kevin Roberts.

Vauxhall had a mountain to climb, but dug deep in their bid to compete in the hope of emulating Southport in midweek who battled their way to a 2-2 draw against Chester having trailed 2-0.

John Burke produced Motors' first shot in anger in the 27th minute which flew over the bar from 20 yards, and Thomas Rooney fired his speculative 30-yard effort wide just seconds later.

Dinning forced Rigby into a spectacular one-handed stop from his 36th minute free kick, and Benjamin's 25-yard effort in the 42nd minute flew inches wide of the left post.

But City and the majority of spectators inside Rivacre Park looked dumb-founded when Mike Dean awarded a spotkick to Motors two minutes before the break which Rooney tucked home to reduce his side's arrears.

Wholesale changes were the order of the day for both sides before the restart, with Chester introducing trial keeper, Chris Sanna, in place of Danby, with Laurence Wilson, Paul Linwood, and Andy Mitchell replacing Rule, Kelly, and Paul Butler in defence.

Ryan Lowe, Anthony Barry, and Paul McManus replaced Ellison, Dinning, and Vaughan in midfield, and Murphy replaced Richie Partridge.

The second half began in an upbeat mood for City, with Mannix forcing Motors' substitute keeper Aiden Dickinson, into a fabulous diving save.

And Chester maintained their command of the proceedings during the half, but they failed miserably in front of goal.

Lowe demonstrated his acceleration with a powerful run beyond three Motors players in the 64th minute, but his shot from 25-yards was blasted over the bar.

The ex-Crewe winger rifled a 20-yard effort over the target in the 69th minute and Murphy was thwarted by Dickinson from point blank range a minute later.

Chester just couldn't find a way of unlocking Motors' back door, but they held on to score their first pre-season victory.

Ask Davies

If you have a question for Chester City's Simon Davies email it to digitalnews@nwn.co.uk and we'll ask as many as we can during our next weekly video interview with the Chester boss.