WORCESTER City may have lost their last ever match at St George’s Lane but it was still an occasion to remember.

While victory against the league champions would have been a fairytale ending, the eventual outcome didn’t really matter.

Neither team was relying on this fixture to aid their position in Blue Square Bet North, it was about providing a fitting send-off for the ground.

By and large, that happened. Aside from a few mindless idiots who disgraced the pre-match one-minute silence in memory of fans who had not lived to see this historic day, the club will be able to look back with pride.

Off the pitch, efforts to ensure a smooth operation, the like of which the Lane had not seen since Huddersfield visited in the FA Cup more than seven years ago, were matched by those on it.

When Chester captain George Horan headed his side in front with just eight minutes on the clock, the majority must have feared the worst against a team who have smashed the 100-goal barrier this term. But the floodgates didn’t open and, instead, City began to play the ball rather than the occasion.

They were the better side in the first-half and, in Mike Symons, Matt Breeze and Kieron Morris, had chances to have drawn level long before the visitors were reduced to 10 men.

Symons, put through by a probing Matt Birley pass, dallied in the area and was thwarted by John Danby, while the Chester keeper also produced acrobatics to tip Breeze’s dipping half-volley over the bar and Morris blazed off target when in space.

But the game changed firmly in Worcester’s favour when, on the stroke of half-time, Matthew McGinn raked his studs down Tom Thorley’s leg after a dreadful lunge and was shown a straight red card.

Despite the hosts’ chances, the game had been tepid until then, but that lit the blue touch paper and finally stirred the capacity crowd into life.

They had plenty more to shout about in the second-half as City, attacking a dressing room end almost spilling over with fans, took control.

Carl Heeley’s side piled forward at every opportunity but, try as they might, Chester, and in particular Danby, stood firm.

The keeper tipped Rob Elvins’ drive over, saved from sub Ethan Moore and then got lucky as another effort from the striker rattled the inside of the post and rebounded straight into his grateful arms.

Danny Williams, who also stung the palms of Danby, and Michael Taylor injected further pace from the bench, while Tyler Weir whipped over a cross which Moore turned the wrong side of the post.

As City got closer, so the volume increased but the goal they deserved, and all thought was coming, never materialised.

In the end, it was left to Chester to run the clock down before the final whistle sounded for the last time at the Lane.