Marcus Bignot admitted back-to-back defeats for Chester has done ‘a lot of damage’ to his side’s hopes of avoiding relegation from the National League.

The Blues manager accepted his players’ confidence levels have been left ‘absolutely shattered’ by their latest 2-0 defeat against Guiseley, slipping eight points adrift of safety.

“These past two defeats, they’ve left the players’ confidence completely shattered, absolutely shattered,” he said.

“I’m disappointed, it’s the first time we’ve lost back-to-back league games. The manner of the defeat is bitterly disappointing, I’ve got to admit these defeats have done a lot of damage to the group. That’s the group we’ve got but I can’t keep tearing shreds out of them, because if we lose them, then they’ve gone. That’s the environment that’s been created here.

“We targeted eight points from the five games starting with Solihull, we’re obviously now just on three points from that period. It’s not the points return we wanted but we’ve got to get those points by hook or by crook.

“They are a fragile group and now we’ve got to try and get their confidence back up ahead of Saturday.

“It’s physchological now, some of my better performers are producing performances now that are unrecognisable.  We now to find leaders at this football club, we’ve got to set examples of how to best prepare and win games of football. That’s even harder when the support isn’t there.”