Swansea moved up to second in League Two, after claiming a hard-fought point against Ian Rush's on-form Chester courtesy of a second-half penalty from Lee Trundle. After a disastrous opening 45 minutes which saw Chester dominate and take a 1-0 lead, Swansea were much improved after the break and grabbed an equaliser when Kevin McIntyre was adjudged to have handled a Brad Maylett cross.
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Chester took the lead on 19 minutes as Kevin Rapley chased onto a knock on to fire a left-footed effort into the far corner. The goal was no more than the home side deserved having put the visitors under early pressure, and within a minute of scoring, they thought they had doubled their lead, but Stewart Drummond was adjudged to be standing in an offside position.
The long throws of Cortez Belle were causing Swansea numerous problems, and nine minutes from the break one of the striker's throws fell to Rapley whose shot on the turn flew narrowly past the post.
Such was Chester's dominance, it took the Swans until a minute before the interval to get in their first shot as Adrian Forbes was afforded time and space to progress to the edge of the Chester box, only to shot wide.
The restart saw an inevitable improvement from the visitors and, on 55 minutes, they were level after being awarded the penalty with the ball seeming to strike McIntyre on the arm at close range.
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An injury, which saw Gary Monk stretched of the field after a collision with Bell, forced Swansea into a change as Leon Britton was thrown into the fray just after the hour mark with O'Leary moved to cente-back.
Bell left the field soon after to be replaced by Michael Branch. The Chester striker shot wide on 72 minutes after being fed by Rapley while at the other end Trundle struck a left-footed effort just over the bar.
Ten minutes from time an excellent chance went begging as Rapley played in Branch and the striker took the ball on himself, only to screw his shot wide with just the keeper to beat. Swansea also had late chances through Trundle and Robinson and felt that they should have had a penalty after Maylett appeared to be chopped down in the Chester box...but the scoreline remained.
On reflection, Swansea showed their battling qualities against a strong, physical Chester side in a game that they probably would have lost last season. However, the Swans could not be bullied out of this game and will be happy with a credible point. The only negative point was the loss of Garry Monk, who was stretchered off on the hour-mark and Swans supporters will be hoping that the ex-Southampton defender returns to action sooner, rather than later.