A season to forget ended as it began for Oxford United with defeat to a late goal, which perfectly summed up the campaign.

Just as at Boston on the opening day, United missed good chances and then paid the price right at the death.

Two minutes of stoppage time had already passed when Ryan Lowe broke the home side's offside trap just beyond the halfway line, ran 40 yards down the right, cut inside Matt Robinson and shot past Chris Tardif to bring Chester victory.

Before that Steve Basham had squandered great opportunities, and former U's defender Phil Bolland almost netted an own goal when he turned a corner from Chris Hackett against his own post.

But as a game it was very flat, with most Oxford fans much more interested by the off-the-field events than what was happening on the pitch.

New manager Brian Talbot addressed the crowd before the start, and gave an impressive speech which showed he might just be the right kind of character to galvanise this under-achieving club.

It is not his fault what has gone on before, but he must be acutely aware how much of a poisoned chalice manager of Oxford United has been in the past few years.

It is hard to know what he will make of his team's final match of the season.

Some players were determined to prove themselves to him, and both Paul Wanless and Lee Molyneaux, given a rare start at centre back, did themselves no harm.

Several others gave jaded performances, though, at the end of a nine-month spell in which they must be emotionally as well as physically drained.

The game was only a few minutes old when it became apparent that Ramon Diaz and his Argentine coaching team had been refused entry to the stadium.

Chants of "Let Him In, Let Him In" and "Ramon Diaz's Yellow Army" echoed around the ground, but the planned protests agains chairman Firoz Kassam did not amount to much.

Chester went closest to opening the scoring on seven minutes when Robbie Booth spun quickly and shot across Tardif's goal from the right edge of the box.

From a Basham pass, Chris Hackett sprinted forward, only to hit a bobbling shot over the bar.

Chester then beat United's offside trap to have a two against one opportunity bearing down on Tardif's goal.

But they made a complete hash of it, Lowe's cross too far for Booth to reach.

Barry Quinn made a vital block with an outstretched leg, while at the other end, Basham - admittedly looking offside - took too long to shoot after being picked out by a pass from Lee Bradbury, and keeper Chris McKenzie saved.

Tardif, voted fans' player of the year, was relieved to see Ben Davies balloon a shot yards over the bar when he was way out of his goal.

The half ended with the U's caught offside time and again.

Caretaker manager David Oldfield gave Craig Davies a chance to show what he could do in the second half, but there were few clear-cut chances.

Basham got into a good position but when he went down, over the leg of Karl Reegan, the ref ignored his claims for a penalty.

Wanless, playing despite injuries in both knees, threw himself forward to try to head in a corner, putting to shame some who couldn't even chase after the ball.

Chester's impressive Stewart Drummond headed over at the far post and when Bolland struck his own post, it looked as thought the match would finish in deadlock.

But Lowe made sure it wouldn't, leaving Oxford United in 15th place, 13 points off the play-off positions and three places below Ian Atkins's Bristol Rovers, to the frustration and annoyance of those who had placed bets at the start of the season.