Chester 1 Darlington 0

Hardy 85 mins

Attendance 1064

Quakers were knocked out of the FA Cup by a fortunate goal five minutes from the end at the Deva stadium.

Two evenly matched teams, who put everything into the game, seemed to be heading for extra time until a mishit shot by George Waring fell perfectly for James Hardy to put Chester through.

Quakers had the first chance of the game in the second minute. Jake Cassidy headed a clearance by Tommy Taylor down for Luke Charman on the left, and Charman ran forward a few yards before hitting a low right foot shot that the keeper gathered.

Both sides then cancelled each other out, with neither side really getting on top. Chester kept falling into Quakers’ offside trap.

Charman made a great run down the left on 20 minutes, weaving his way past three defenders before his shot was blocked and the keeper saved.

In Quakers’ next attack, Will Hatfield picked up a pass from Kallum Griffiths, turned quickly and fired a yard over the bar.

There wasn’t much in the game after that until Joe Wheatley was harshly booked for a challenge on Declan Weeks.

Half time 0-0

Quakers nearly broke through at the start of the second half, when Charman and Nelson both had shots blocked, and the ball ran for Wheatley, on the edge of the box, to fire just wide of the left hand post.

Chester nearly caught Quakers on the break on 50 minutes, but James Hardy fired over the top from a central position.

However, the deadlock was nearly broken on 52 minutes. Hatfield was fouled 25 yards out, and Griffiths curled the ball over the wall, only for Gray to save at full stretch.

The keeper was in action again when Wheatley burst forward on the right and struck a powerful shot that he fisted away.

However, Taylor made his first real save of the game on 65 minutes when a free kick dropped in the six yard box for Dudley, but Taylor spread himself well to stop the ball going in.

And Taylor made another good save from Hardy after Quakers were opened up in the box.

At the other end, Hatfield hit a piledriver that Gray just managed to push around the post, then from the corner, Charman had a scrambled effort cleared off the line.

But Chester took the lead on 85 minutes. The ball came in from the left for Waring to mishit a right foot shot that went straight to Hardy, who ran on and knocked the ball past Taylor.

Quakers nearly levelled with a good run by Cassidy, that ended with man of the match Gray once again fingertipping the ball around the post.

And in the last minute of stoppage time, Jack Lambert had an opening on the edge of the box, but he couldn’t keep his shot down

Taylor, Griffiths, Cooper, Storey, Smith, Hedley (sub Lambert 80), Wheatley (sub Purver 69), Hatfield, Charman, Nelson (Dos Santos 59), Cassidy

Subs: Mondal, Martin, Beauchamp, Hope

Booking Wheatley

Chester: Gray, Grand, Weeks, Hardy, Glendon, Waring, Dudley (sub Johnston), Clark, Williams, Morgan (sub Marsh-Hughes75), Askew

Subs: Smith, Livesey, Lowe, Heywood, Hughes

Booking: Askew