City have too often been a soft touch for teams in need.

If you can't buy a win for toffee, the Bantams tend to be the perfect opponents.

Think back the last few years to Stockport, Brighton and Rotherham or, just a few weeks, to Bury.

All sides wondering where the next three points would come from. And all finding them against City.

Chester, with seven successive losses at home before last night, fitted perfectly into that category. Another charity desperately in need of a break.

When the sides first met at Valley Parade in early November, Chester were second and flying. Their nosedive in the intervening four months has been spectacular, with only an away win at Mansfield from 16 games since Christmas.

But this time City were not in generous mood.

Rather than bucking the trend, they were happy to follow it and inflict more misery on the sinking Seals.

More importantly, they made the wind-swept journey back to West Yorkshire with the three points which Stuart McCall had demanded after those two demoralising defeats at the hands of Dagenham and Stockport.

It was hardly a night for great football but it was a great piece of finishing which won it from a player often derided for lacking composure in front of goal.

There could be no complaints about the way Barry Conlon clinically dispatched only his second goal of the season from open play.

Chester's local population had clearly voted with their feet after the recent slump judging by the rows of empty seats in the shoebox ground. The feeble 1,566 crowd was more than 2,000 down on Sunday's derby with Wrexham.

Even the music system had given up the ghost, denying the pre-match cheerleaders their three minutes of fame.

City had the first sight of goal from the game's opening corner. Eddie Johnson flicked on Kyle Nix's kick and the ball dropped to Peter Thorne, whose close-range snap-shot was blocked.

That was the best moment of a scrappy first quarter, not helped by the blustery wind.

Johnson was booked for a touchline lunge on 17-year-old rookie Paul McManus right in front of the Chester dug-out. Caretaker manager Simon Davies reacted angrily to the foul and shoved Johnson away, which brought Wayne Jacobs stalking across from the away bench to have a few sharp words with his opposite number.

Nix buzzed into the box and his presence panicked keeper John Danby into picking up Tony Dinning's back pass. It gave City a free-kick six yards out and the ideal chance to break the deadlock.

Johnson stood over it with his back to goal before stepping aside for Paul Evans to crash a shot goalwards. But his thundering drive was bravely blocked by Danby who atoned immediately for his mistake.

Mark Hughes launched a quick response but could not keep his curler down from 25 yards.

A loose pass from TJ Moncur outside his own penalty area almost gifted Chester an opening but David Wetherall was alert to the danger and dispossessed John Murphy. But the home side's confidence was lifted and Scott Loach had to deal carefully with a powerful free-kick from Dinning.

Kevin Ellison then slipped Murphy through a hole in the City backline but Moncur showed his pace to get across and close him down at the expense of a corner.

The pressure was eased by a wild long-range try from left back Laurence Wilson which flew out of the ground - much to the amusement of the home supporters.

There was not too much to entertain them, although Joe Colbeck, as busy as ever on City's right flank, tried to use the elements to his advantage with a chip on the run that landed on top of Danby's net.

With the wind against them, City were looking for their long passes to hold up like a golfer applying back spin on to the green. One move nearly worked on the left when the loose ball fell for Evans but he was flagged offside while shooting over.

Ellison launched another ball out of the ground as half-time approached, which summed up much of the scrappy proceedings.

Conlon showed good skill and control on halfway before starting a break which almost saw City grab a bizarre lead. Colbeck laid the striker's pass back to Darren Williams, whose cross hung on the wind.

Danby came to take it then slipped but Evans, unaware of the keeper's predicament, could not get any direction on his header as the ball swirled wickedly.

But with the elements at their back for the second half, City would certainly have fancied their chances of forcing a fourth away win in 2008.

They gained a corner within a minute of the restart and Evans' curling kick emphasised how strong the wind had become as it drifted over everybody and landed on top of the Chester goal.

Nix saw a strong strike well blocked by James Vaughan and there was a greater urgency about City's play.

Thorne found space on the left and his cut-back was cleverly dummied by Nix as it ran to Conlon, whose first-time left-footer just beat the top corner.

City were gaining momentum and Nix, having just been flagged wrongly offside when through, almost forced a breakthrough after 58 minutes.

Conlon helped a long ball on and Nix got there a fraction quicker than Danby on the edge of the Chester area. His header lifted it past the keeper but two home defenders frantically gave chase and Vaughan managed to clear off the line.

But City only had to wait another eight minutes to make their pressure count.

Evans was the creator with a ball from the right and Conlon showed great composure in the box to bring it down and coolly loft his shot beyond Danby. Chester were arguing, possibly with some justification, that the big striker was offside but it was a quality finish.

And within a minute Conlon could, maybe should, have had a second as Chester crumbled again. But this time he unselfishly tried to work the ball to Thorne instead of having a crack himself and the home side scrambled it away.

But City were grateful to the reflexes of Scott Loach for making sure their lead stayed intact five minutes later as he superbly turned away a goal-bound header from Ellison after City switched off from a short corner. No wonder the Premier League big boys are said to be watching the young keeper's progress.

Alex Rhodes came on for Nix and was straight into the action with a dangerous cross which Danby, taking no chances, touched over the bar.

Conlon's tail was up after his goal and he was a coat of paint away from another with a well-judged volley that crashed back off the woodwork.

Conlon then turned provider to release Rhodes into the danger zone. Thorne was screaming for a pass in the goal-mouth but the ball was fizzed over with too much on it and beat the striker's lunge.

Thorne did have the ball in the net with five minutes left - but got a yellow card for his trouble for time-wasting after the whistle had blown.

Still Conlon had not finished and he collected a diagonal pass from Colbeck before sliding a shot just wide of the far post.

And the striker was back in his own box in stoppage time to head away a Chester free-kick and then launch it to safety.

TELEGRAPH & ARGUS

CHESTER CITY	BRADFORD CITY
12 John Danby	34 Scott Loach
22 James Vaughan	2 Darren Williams
17 Laurence Wilson	3 Paul Heckingbottom
19 Paul Linwood	4 Paul Evans
4 Tony Dinning	5 David Wetherall
14 Mark Hughes	8 Eddie Johnson
25 Kevin Roberts	9 Barry Conlon
11 Kevin Ellison	10 Peter Thorne
21 Paul Rutherford	15 Joe Colbeck
9 John Murphy	22 Kyle Nix
32 Paul McManus	35 Thomas Moncur
SUBSTITUTES	SUBSTITUTES
23 Phil Palethorpe	1 Donovan Ricketts
3 Kevin Sandwith	6 Mark Bower
27 Shaun Kelly	11 Alex Rhodes for 22 (77)
33 Glenn Rule	18 Tom Penford
36 Andy Mitchell	23 Willy Topp

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee:	G Hegley
Assistant Referee:	A J Horton
Assistant Referee:	A J Scregg
4th Official:	D S Bond

GOALSCORERS:
CHESTER CITY	BRADFORD CITY
	Conlon (66)
	.

DISCIPLINARY:
CHESTER CITY	BRADFORD CITY
Ellison (89)	Johnson (7)
	Moncur (75)
	Thorne (86)
	.