What the gaffer said on improvement

“We can’t hide away from the fact that in our last couple of games there has been a wobble – Saturday’s game provided a great opportunity to find out how far we had come during a short space of time with an influx of new players as a football club.

“I was announced as Chester’s new manager at last season’s home match against Northampton and, I remember watching the game but not enjoying it because I didn’t see a lot of solidarity with our team.

“But on Saturday I thought everyone saw a lot of togetherness within our team.

What the gaffer said on performance

“Northampton have players in their side who can unlock doors and, make no mistake about it, come the end of the season I expect them to be up there.

“I thought it was a very tight encounter – both teams tried to nullify each other’s strengths, but both teams looked solid. “Credit to both sides for the lack of goalscoring chances – they both knew there were potential threats and both sides defended very well.

“We have worked on defensive moves because I’ve been aware of some criticism, saying we had conceded too many goals, but we have outlined some of the problems with our shape and not thrown caution to the wind.

“We knew Northampton had players who could open doors, but we got in and around them and they did exactly the same to us.”

What the gaffer said on Man of the Match

“Carl Regan has come in and he had to stick to a game plan against Northampton whose main pace threat was right winger Josh Low.

“I thought Carl tied Low up very well and offered bits and pieces whenever he moved forward as well.

“I don’t think Carl won his man of the match award for his foul throw, but that’s something for him to work on next week!”

What the gaffer said on good times

“I must admit that I picked up on a little bit of negativity in the run up to Saturday’s game because all the hype was built up around what Northampton could do – I agreed with everything that Northampton could do, but they are eighth and we’re fifth!

“I know we’ve got players who can go and win games. Northampton have been in and around the play-off places for the last three years and I do believe that we will be in the play-offs this season after a benchmark performance at the weekend.

“Teams are no longer coming to Chester and thinking they can win three points – people who come to Chester know they are going to have to work.

“At the beginning of the season we’d have taken fifth place in the table after 17 games. We’re in fifth place without putting together a winning sequence – but I think we’re not very far away from putting together four wins on the trot which will have a massive effect.”

Colin CalderwoodNorthampton Town manager

"It was a hard earned point," said the Cobblers boss. "We didn't really perform and we didn't have much of a threat to their goal. We found it difficult to impose ourselves and get any fluency to our game. It was a tough game but I'm sure this will work out to be a point gained at the end of the season.

"We are disappointed that we have not won and disappointed that we could have played better, but I was pleased with the attitude and determination of the boys not to lose the game and to make sure we at least got something out of it despite not being at our best.

"It was not a great spectacle. They are dangerous at set plays and we had to defend well against them, but we found things difficult. We should have done better in some areas and we did not do enough to deserve to win. Having said that we could well have lost this sort of game last season.

"There was hardly a clear cut chance in the game for either side. We were honest, hard working and determined but not particularly fluent and some of the credit for that has to go to Chester.

"We look fairly solid at the moment. We have kept five clean sheets in our last 6 league games but we are disappointed that we did not reach the standards we set ourselves last week. We will take what we have got and go again next week."