Posh home games are following an increasingly frustrating pattern. Even the weakest of teams - and believe me Chester fall firmly into that category - are finding joy from abandoning imagination and ambition and concentrating on containment.

So redundant was Posh goalkeeper Joe Lewis, he was checked for hypothermia after the game. Posh fans only cheered up once little Dean Keates headed his second winning goal of recent weeks 19 minutes from time.

Keates pounced after full debutant Scott Rendell headed Aaron Mclean's cross up in the air causing total confusion between visiting defender Kevin Roberts and goalkeeper John Danby.

"It's never easy when teams play with nine defenders," Keates insisted. "But we got there in the end. Scott's got a good touch on Aaron's cross and I just went for it once I saw the defender dithering."

Rendell and Mclean were probably more pleased than anyone when Keates delivered as they had missed a succession of chances between them.

Rendell, who was excellent until he attempted to score (a pretty important part of a striker's game), missed two sitters, struck the crossbar and saw a goal disallowed for offside in the space of 10 second-half minutes.

And Mclean missed a glorious opportunity to bag his 30th goal of the campaign in the third minute when firing wide from close range after Jamie Day and George Boyd had sliced open the Chester defence. Boyd was offered the freedom of the left wing by Chester's tactics and on another day might have left with a hat-trick of assists.

Mclean also prodded wide another Boyd cross later on and saw a fierce volley soon after the re-start well saved by Danby.

But it was his early missed opportunity that condemned Posh to another nervy afternoon at London Road as Posh boss Darren Ferguson admitted.

"If we score early we would probably win easily," Ferguson insisted. "It's becoming a feature of our home games, but I was pleased that we stayed patient and kept going."

One-goal leads are always precarious though and it required a superb last-ditch tackle by Craig Morgan to deny Chester striker John Murphy seven minutes from time, before Shaun Kelly side-footed badly wide from eight yards and substitute Kevin Sandwith grazed a post with the final shot of the match.

It would have been a grave injustice had Chester pilfered a point, although it would also have served as a punishment for Posh profligacy.

Posh were poor with the wind behind them in the first half and after Mclean's early miss there was little threat on goal until the same player's overhead kick sped straight to Danby seven minutes before the interval.

But after the re-start it was a procession towards the Chester goal as a patient passing game gave way to one involving much more urgency.

Chances started to arrive at regular intervals, but Rendell's finishing inability quickly becoming a matter of scorn from the irritable home crowd.

The ex-Cambridge (and that's a burden he needs to shed quickly) striker spooned a shot from Boyd's cross into the 'keeper's arms, headed a brilliant cross from Chris Whelpdale wide of the target and then headed against the underside of the crossbar from six yards.

Rendell's joyous hammering of the ball into the net from close range was also ruined by an assistant referee's flag, but Keates spared his team-mate from further embarrassment when defying his physical shortcomings to power home the winner.

Keates was also involved in the moment of madness which led to a second yellow card and early shower for Chester midfielder Tony Dinning.

Dinning at least left the field with more grace than a Premier League player.

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