Chorley boss Andy Preece staying positive despite late defeat to Chester

​Chorley boss Andy Preece insists his men will not feel too downhearted after slipping to defeat on the opening day of the National League North season.

​The Magpies were beaten 2-1 at home by Chester – conceding a late winner in the 87th minute.

Chorley had their chances and Anjola Popoola, newly returned on loan from Accrington Stanley, spurned a golden opportunity when he fired wide from the penalty spot early on.

The Seals took advantage to go into the interval 1-0 up but Elliot Taylor restored parity after the interval with a superb volley. The hosts looked on course to secure a deserved point until the visitors struck late on.

"There were a few key moments in the game,” Preece told Chorley FC TV. “You look at the start of the game, the gameplan worked a treat. We forced them into a mistake and got a penalty. Unfortunately, we miss it and you can gain or lose a lot of momentum out of that. I still thought we did okay after that but they come more into it as the half went on.

"Their goal has come after a drinks break – I don’t know why, but we just seemed to sit back and allow them to have the ball. There was no press and they managed to get through us and their lad’s scored from 20 yards.

"You come in at half-time thinking we should have been 1-0 up. The way we have conceded, it could have been one of those where the lads get their heads down but we didn’t. I thought for large amounts of the second half we were the better team and we looked the more likely.

"We scored a really good goal – Elliot’s done fantastic – that gave us a bit of a lift. We looked to get on top but they were always dangerous on the counter.

"We started to rush things as we wanted to go and get that second goal. I thought we could have controlled the game a little bit more because we had Chester on the back foot. It’s a heartbreaker to concede so late.”

The Magpies travel to South Shields this weekend.