Marcus Bignot hailed the efforts of his ''£200 team' but called on Chester to decide what direction they want to move in.

Speaking after his side's 2-0 home defeat against Dover Athletic, Bignot all-but conceded Chester would be playing National League North football next season, with the Blues now requiring a minor miracle to avoid relegation.

Bignot revealed he had worked out the average wage of his current team is 'just £200' but now feels their summer recruitment must focus on bringing in quick, powerful players during a summer overhaul.

"We worked it out that the average price of our team, because there is a lot of players in there playing for free and a lot of teenagers, the average wage across the team was £200. For a £200 team we certainly went toe to toe with a play-off team in this league," he explained, after a staggering 19th defeat out of their past 28 home matches.

"One of the aspects for us is that we have zero physicality, that is something we have got to bring into the team and it ain't going to happen overnight. But we are technically a good team and they are technically good players. They are getting there so there are a lot of positives.

"We are going in the right direction with what we want to do here. You clearly know what Dover's identity is, but what is Chester's?

"Second half we started slow and we got ourselves back in it in terms of momentum, but to concede the two goals it was disappointing to have conceded off a corner. The game opened up a little bit (for the second goal) and that's when they got their goal, they got in behind us.

"The worst thing to defend against is pace. We haven't got it, let's be honest. We haven't got the pace and physicality of Azeez and Daniel, you see their subs coming on and we don't have those dynamics in the building.

"You've seen what we're trying to build and bring in. How do we find ways to match that physicality? Recruitment is key and what does a Chester player look like moving forward?

"You won't have this environment next season where the man-for-man, we're not the better players. But does that mean we're going to be the better team? For a team, you wouldn't say that's a £200 per week team, we certainly matched them for periods, but I know it is about results. The end game is we want to stay in this league, but we had to win that game."

Bignot was left disappointed by a lacking of crosses from his side in the second period, after they had dominated the first-half but seen Harry White and Dominic Vose squander good opportunities.

"If they aren't six foot, then they are very quick which is how they got their second goal," he continued.

"I'm just disappointed second-half we didn't get more crosses into the box and again, it's something we'll learn from. You have to put balls into the box as it asks questions of the opposition and leads to mistakes happening. I just felt second-half, especially when we were brave and left the two centre-halves up the pitch, getting Dom into those little pockets of space, we wanted our two wide men to just stay out there and put balls into the box but it didn't materialise like that and we lost our game plan late on, which can be expected with such a young group.

"There's a lot of teenagers out on the pitch, they are giving it their all."

Bignot defended his decision to switch to a back three whilst 1-0 down, sending on Ross Hannah in place of Myles Anderson, which backfired instantly as Dover grabbed a second on the counter through Ryan Astles' own-goal.

"They go man for man across the pitch and always leave one of our defenders free, so even though we switched to a three at the back, there was always a spare defender," he added.

"We had possession in our half and we lost it. The speed in their team, we couldn't recover quick enough but I can understand why people would say that the switch to a three changed it.

"We had to change it, we had to win that game. We had to get three centre forwards on the pitch and we wanted width so we've got to take one out of the back line. It's just disappointed that for both goals we had possession in our own half."