CHESTER defender Steve Howson has urged his teammates to seek revenge when Blyth Spartans arrive at the Swansway Stadium on Tuesday night.

Back in August last year, Chester suffered their heaviest defeat for almost 20 years as they went down 8-1 in the North East after a shambolic display at Croft Park.

Impressive in their first two games of the season, Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley's side were brought straight back down to earth during their third outing of the campaign with Howson netting an own goal on a humiliating day for the Blues.

"It was a horrendous result up there and we really, really owe them," said Howson. "Even if we just scrape a 1-0 win it's still three points and the same they got for their result so it would be very nice."

Blyth will be full of confidence heading into the midweek fixture after salvaging a point at home to Kidderminster Harriers thanks to two late goals in the 88th minute and 92nd minute which saw 10 man Spartans overcome a 3-1 deficit.

In stark contrast, Chester slumped to an eighth away defeat of the season following a woeful performance at Bradford Park Avenue which saw them concede a controversial opening goal after just 30 seconds before going on to lose 2-0.

"There's huge pressure on Tuesday's game now and if we want to stay with the chasing pack we've got to win - it's that simple," said Howson, who had a good view of Avenue's early strike which came after players on both sides had stopped playing, believing the ball to have gone out of play.

"The lad got past Matty (Waters) and his standing foot was on the line and you could see the ball was a good yard out and it's come from behind the net and the lad has tapped it in," said Howson.

"We stopped and a lot of their lads stopped apart from the lad who's stood on the line and even he said: 'I can't believe we've got away with it'.

"We've been shafted but we needed to react better and we had plenty of chances - I could have scored a couple and Danny Livesey's had a chance and it was just not good enough. Coming off the back of what we did last week I was confident we'd put in a good performance and get the three points but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"I'm fuming and disappointed and we've got to learn and learn quickly. We are in a position where we can still go and do something this season so we're not throwing in the towel.

"We've just got to get to grips with what we're doing, regroup and get a result on Tuesday night. We've got to man up and become resolute, not only at the back but all over the pitch, be horrible and grind out a win."

A victory on Tuesday will see Chester move to within a point of the play offs before a huge game at fellow promotion chasers Altrincham on Saturday and Howson is confident the Blues can recover.

"Obviously we're really flat but we have to bounce back," he added. "Football is the greatest game when you're winning and the worst when you're losing but we've got a chance to put that right on Tuesday."