Matt Clarke stretched a hand towards the door panel and gave it a firm rap.

When your City career has been hindered by mishaps and misfortunes, you take no chances and touch wood accordingly.

Even Tuesday's first league start of the season was not without incident as Clarke's little pull on Kevin Ellison was spotted by eagle-eyed referee Andy Hall. Fortunately Donovan Ricketts baled him out by saving the Chester spot-kick.

"Ninety-nine per cent of the time you don't get penalised for that but thankfully it was a brilliant save from Donovan - he got me out of it," said Clarke.

"But I thought it went well apart from that, personally and for the team, and it was just nice starting a game again.

"It's horrible when you come off the bench because you find it hard to get into the game, especially as a defender. It takes time to get into the pace of it.

"I didn't feel too pressured. Obviously there was a little bit of anxiety but that's always good because it keeps you on your toes.

"When you're not feeling a few nerves is the time to worry as you doze off a bit, so it's a good thing really."

Clarke's appearance in place of Mark Bower raised a few eyebrows as Stuart McCall shook things up for Chester part one.

The big defender believes the outcome justified the changes and is hoping for more of the same on Saturday.

Clarke said: "It wasn't a brilliant performance from us but more than ever we battled and defended hard. We got back to basics a bit and just looked to clear our lines.

"We also kept to the game-plan to get them turned and make sure their defenders like Paul Butler, who's not the quickest, were facing their own goal. Then you can use Omar Daley's pace to get in behind."

The win, City's first in nine outings, has replaced the scowls with smiles and Clarke noticed the difference straight away. Now it is important that result is not allowed to go to waste.

He said: "It did seem that a big black cloud had been lifted from over our heads in the dressing room. The boys started cheering after the game on Tuesday and you could feel the relief.

"It's something to build on now and hopefully we can take that into the next Chester game. It will be a bit strange playing them again but it's the FA Cup, which always adds that bit of extra spice.

"We'll keep with the same game plan but this time see if we can get that second goal a bit earlier on to settle the nerves, then we'll be able to start playing a bit more.

"Hopefully we can do the job again and get through to the next round - and maybe draw someone like Leeds."

McCall is waiting for a decision on whether he can use his loan players. He may have to rethink his formation if any of the parent clubs block them from being cup-tied.

City themselves will not allow Darlington to play Joe Colbeck in their home tie with Northampton.

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