The Chester City boss has focused his players' minds on defensive matters in training this week in readiness for Saturday's opening league match at Dagenham and Redbridge.

Davies is aware of the London club's aerial threat from setpieces having watched Dagenham in their 4-0 pre-season friendly win at Bromsgrove last weekend.

And he is keen to see his players learn from the error of their ways after City's 4-1 defeat against Blue Square North part-time club AFC Telford United last Saturday.

He said: "I want the players to take pride in keeping cleansheets.

"We worked hard towards the end of last season on not conceding goals and I want to take that into the coming season.

"I'm hoping to have a fully fit squad for the opening game and I remain confident that we'll do well.

"Our shape has looked good on the training pitch and our front three can rotate and mix the play, with Anthony Barry doing the bits and bobs behind them.

"I'm going to encourage our full backs to join in so we'll have a lot of bodies going forward, but we must not be caught out by any counter-attacks."

Davies admitted he was far from pleased about his team's performance at AFC Telford United at the weekend, but defended his decision to sideline some senior players.

Paul Linwood, Tony Dinning, Paul Butler, Ryan Lowe, and Richie Partridge were all left out of the Chester side in the clash at New Bucks Head.

Davies said: "It wasn't an ideal result at Telford, but I wasn't prepared to play some senior players because the last thing I needed was injury problems ahead of our first league match.

"I trusted Huw Griffiths to take charge of the team at Telford while I watched Dagenham at Bromsgrove, and he was honest with his appraisal of the players who lined-up for us at Telford.

"The bulk of the team had disappointing performances, but I was pleased that James Vaughan and Anthony Barry came through and now we're all working hard in preparation for the first game of the season."

Chester will find out who they will face in the first round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy when the draw is announced on Saturday, August 16, the same day that City take on Wycombe Wanderers at the Deva Stadium.

The first round ties will take place the week commencing September 1.

Ask Davies

If you have a question for Chester City's Simon Davies email it to digitalnews@nwn.co.uk and we'll ask as many as we can during our next weekly video interview with the Chester boss.