The Chester City boss pointed the finger of blame at his backline after a 3-1 penalty shoot-out defeat at home to Morecambe in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy second round tie which ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.

Davies was bitterly disappointed with the way his side had conceded a goal in the opening half.

He said: "We gave away another sloppy goal which is a bit concerning. We must start making teams work harder for their goals because we have to work hard for our goals.

"I thought we were absolutely fantastic in the second half. We passed the ball around and I felt Morecambe couldn't get a foothold in the game.

"It seemed only a matter of time before we got our equaliser, and we nearly nicked a winning goal at the end of the match.

"There was a lot of disappointment in terms of our penalty shoot-out defeat, but it's always a lottery in that situation."

Davies had been forced to introduce both Ryan Lowe and Paul Taylor on the hour mark in place of Paul McManus and Richie Partridge which produced a positive response.

He added: "They are both players with quality. I thought the line-up needed a bit of a shake-up.

"People like Anthony Barry came in for us and did well for himself, but when I've got quality coming onto the pitch in Ryan and Paul I knew it was going to make a difference – and it did."

Davies paid tribute to visiting keeper, Barry Roche's shot-stopping skills after he made three fine saves in the penalty shoot-out to deny Anthony Barry, Kevin Roberts, and Paul Taylor.

He added: "He's a presence in their goal, especially in a penalty situation because he really does fill the goal.

"I thought we made it quite comfortable for him in terms of putting the ball at chest height. He made good saves, but comfortable saves.

"But it was a lottery and it could have gone either way. We never seem to get much luck here at the moment, but hopefully that will turn.

"I was telling Wayne (Allison) on the sidelines that John (Danby) hasn't done so well with penalties so far this season, but he managed to save one of the Morecambe spotkicks and on another night that might have been enough, but we didn't do well in trying to convert ours."

Davies is now determined to turn his side's form round on Saturday when Chester travel to Saltergate to face Chesterfield in the league.

- Blues fans are reminded that City's scheduled home League Two game against Port Vale on Sunday, October 19, (12 noon kick-off), is not all-ticket for home supporters.

City fans can pay at the turnstiles on the day of the game, but visiting supporters must purchase their tickets in advance.

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.