Nine-man Doncaster Rovers' hopes of catching Yeovil Town at the top of the Nationwide Conference were dealt a severe blow as Chester City got their own promotion hopes back on track.
A sending-off either side of half time with Dave Morley and then Jason Blunt seeing red to give the home side the numerical advantage on which they capitalised to win 1-0 at the Deva Stadium.
The importance of the game showed in a frantic opening period that saw both sides playing at a pace that proved impossible to sustain.
Kevin McIntyre increased the temperature further on the pitch in the 22nd minute with a high challenge on Blunt, which incensed Paul Barnes who was fortunate not to follow McIntyre into the referee's notebook.
Chester had a scare after 33 minutes when keeper Wayne Brown was called into action for virtually the first time, but he failed to do his job dropping a simple catch and forcing Carl Ruffer into a hurried clearance.
Deep into first-half added time the game was radically altered when Morley was dismissed after a second yellow card and things went from bad to worse as two minutes into the second period Blunt was red-carded for his second bookable offence.
Daryl Clare waltzed his way past several men and forced keeper Andy Warrington into a fine save on 55 minutes as Chester attempted to turn the screw against the nine men.
And the deadlock was broken on 61 minutes after substitute David Cameron held off his man before laying the ball to fellow replacement Michael Twiss, who fired home past Andy Warrington.
The home side had several chances to make the game safe and saw two efforts ruled offside, while at the other end Chris Beech was left holding his head in his hands after his volley went inches past the post.