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10 May 2006
City’s disappointing season ended in anti-climax with a home defeat by local rivals Shrewsbury Town.

At Christmas the Blues were flying high in a play-off spot, before a disastrous run dropped them to the foot of the table. Mark Wright replaced Keith Curle and did enough to haul the Blues to safety.

The Blues looked on at what might have been, having been pacesetters themselves at the turn 2006 before pushing the self destruct button.

A few weeks ago City were rock bottom but an unbeaten run of seven matches has lifted Mark Wright’s side to 14th towards the end of a roller coaster season.

Three more from Wrexham tonight would be more than welcome. It’s 10 years now since a City home victory over their arch rivals.

Striker Derek Asamoah has emerged the Blues hero. He followed his midweek hat-trick at Boston with a brace against Cheshire rivals Macc, his last minute winner a candidate for goal of the season.

Wins are in very short supply at the moment though, just one in 19 matches sums up the decline since Christmas.

With just one win in 18 games City fans are hoping for a dramatic change in fortunes starting with immediate effect.

As a result, the Deva Stadium revolving doors will be oiled this week with two players expected to move out to make way for a couple of loan signings.

Striker Gregg Blundell equalised with his first goal since mid-October to bring an end a run of five straight defeats.

Despite solid debuts for Albrighton and Ellender in defence, City’s lack of firepower in front of goal once again let them down.

Defeat by Orient proved to be Keith Curle’s swan song, as the Blues slipped to 19th and the board moved swiftly to halt the slump.

In the play-off spots at the New Year, 11 defeats in 12 matches sees them languishing in 18th place just four points from the drop zone.

Both assistant managers and the club physio were shown the door by chairman Vaughan with popular ex-player and physio Joe Hinnigan expected to return.

He kept his word as a late transfer market dip brought three defensive loanees to keep the rest on their toes.

Despite the recent poor run of results the Blues are only five points from a play-off place and have key players returning from injury.

The Blues are finding it tough going at the moment and have now failed to score in 5 or the last 6 games.

A home tie against Newcastle awaits the winners of next week’s rematch, and with possible tv coverage to boot, Drummie’s late strike could bring a windfall.

Suspensions and injuries to key players have taken their toll at the Deva as the year ended with five straight defeats.

The eagerly awaited clash with Wrexham is already sold out, before then though there’s three points at stake with a Boxing Day visit to Cheltenham.

The Blues suffered their first defeat in seven at Lincoln and will now miss keeper MacKenzie with a broken thumb.

The Blues moved fourth after a dogged victory at Orient. With the City goal under siege for most of the night, Stewart Drummond struck on half-time to grab three priceless points.

The Blues were on top throughout and wrapped it up with a classy third goal from Ryan Lowe. More like that please!

Chester let a two goal lead slip but a point keeps them in the pack at 6th.

City’s festive derby with Wrexham must now KO at noon during a working day on 28/12, denying many fans the opportunity to see the long awaited League clash due to work commitments.

A shock looked on the cards at one stage, with the part-timers leading before goals from Branch and Lowe after the break saved City’s blushes.

City, who missed the services of suspended midfielder Stewart Drummond and injured Gregg Blundell, ground out a point that keeps them 5th.

Good news for the Exiles with Keith Curle agreeing to hopefully meet up prior to our forthcoming Barnet match.

Keith Curle’s brand of attacking football is paying dividends and could be boosted as ex-Blue Kevin Ellison, now at Hull, is his next loan target. ‘Super Kev’ will be welcomed back.

The Blues could have won by more than 4-0, but what more can City do to bring in the fans after another sub-3,000 crowd?

However, off the pitch things aren’t so rosy. A High Court appearance is set for next week unless outstanding tax bills are paid.

Friday’s victory set up an opportunity to top the table, but a home defeat by Grimsby ended City’s unbeaten start.

Then in the Bank Holiday Monday sun, it was Ryan Lowe who netted past the superb Andy Marriott in added time to bring three points away from the Gulls.

With record signing Gregg Blundell now fully fit, City will be hoping for a quick return on their investment as the Blues aim to stay unbeaten in L2.

Deva Stadium was awash following the morning deluge, and referee Singh was left with no option. So the Blues are still unbeaten – unusual at this stage.

Stewart Drummond’s goal for new-look Chester brought 3pts from the Posh on Saturday to send the Exiles home happy.

The Board have backed their manager's ambitions too with the £105k record signing of Gregg Blundell from Donny.

Sadly, for some of the team it was their last appearance in a City shirt. Keith Curle has since wielded the axe and given free transfers to 20 players.

Our disappointing season draws to an end on Saturday as the Exiles make a first-ever visit to the Kassam Stadium.

Whoever takes on the job will have to tackle the awful disciplinary record, with 11 red and 101 yellow cards amassed in this season of turmoil.

Keith Curle was an interested onlooker. He was interviewed with two others on Monday for the Deva Stadium hot seat.

Technical Director David Bell has filled the caretaker role since, and was rewarded with three vital points following a 2-1 win over Boston at the Deva on Saturday.

Their exits came after a string of poor results and caretaker boss David Bell has the tricky task of picking the team up, starting with the visit by Boston.

New signing Ryan Lowe couldn’t have picked a better day to open his account with City. His brace against Bury gave us a vital win and moved us up to 19th.

Ian Rush believes two more wins will ensure safety in a season described by the chairman on TV as “disastrous.”

It was just as well the Chairboys gave us free entry as the Blues crashed to another heavy defeat, leaving them just six points from the drop zone.

Despite their off-field troubles, the Blues gave a spirited performance at home to Southend, deserving more than a point from their 2-2 draw.

It was the biggest league defeat since the 7-1 thrashing by Brighton five years ago to the day. We were relegated to the Conference later that season.

But a diabolical match saw the Blues squander all their chances and the only goal of the game was scored by Grimsby.

You’ve got to feel sorry for Kiddy. They’ve got a neat ground, top-notch cuisine (including Chinese takeaways!) and great nearby pubs. But the football lets them down and they look doomed.

Three goals against R&D ended City’s goal drought and prevented an unwanted club record after five successive blanks.

The pressure is on Ian Rush, whose side have won just once in three months and failed to find the net in six hours.

Two more dismissals have brought this seasons total to five, add to that a mere 67 bookings and it’s no wonder Ian Rush is finding his small squad pared to the bone by suspensions.

Ellison has been a revelation since his summer signing from Stockport, and was on the mark again in the narrow 2-1 cup loss at Bournemouth. City played their best football of the season and will rue missing a possible Anfield clash.

City’s lack of firepower has become all too evident and so a revised offer has been made for Bury’s David Nugent.

We’re not quite there yet, but with two seasonal points from 7th placed Dale and table-toppers Scunthorpe, we could see our ambition fulfilled in 2005.

Following the shock departure of Mark Wright on the eve of the season, the Blues and new boss Ian Rush have lately found the going tough in League Two.

A depleted City earned a hard-fought victory at Halifax to reach the 3rd round of the FA Cup. But that delight was tempered with a heavy defeat at Bristol Rovers, and it’s now five games since a League win.

However, another six bookings during the Oxford defeat have taken its toll and the Blues will be without four key players for the tricky trip to Halifax.

Kevin Ellison struck a wonder free-kick to glean a point from a tempetuous affair at Sixfields that saw five Blues players booked and assistant manager Mark Aizlewood also dismissed.

A goal in each half set up a tie at Halifax, but most Blues fans at Marston Road had missed the first hour due to severe traffic delays on the nearby M6.

Earlier in the day, City fans were given their dream LDV quarter-final tie that brings cross-border rivals Wrexham to Deva Stadium at the end of the month.

Rush, only in charge for 11 games, said he was flattered to be linked with the Welsh manager’s job, but intends to stay at City for a “long time to come”.

His brace against Grimsby, in a game sponsored by the Exiles (we voted him MOTM), and another against Kiddy on Tuesday helped continue Chester's form.

City will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to nine games after the Blues had their first ever win over Rushden & Diamonds to the delight of their noisy band of travelling fans.

Following last weeks goalless draw at Cheltenham, City fans will hope that striker Daryl Clare will return to the side as Chester look for an away win at Rushden on Saturday.

"Super" Kevin Ellison was on the mark again, scoring his second goal of the week to land a home tie with Rochdale.

They do so on the back of a four match unbeaten run following Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Lincoln. Kevin Ellison appeared to score directly from an indirect free-kick! as City grabbed a point.

Rush, who has been linked with the soon-to-be-vacated managerial role with Wales, has strengthened his back room team this week with the appointment of former England keeper Joe Corrigan in a coaching capacity.

A Danny Collins header deep into injury time was enough to seal three points against our Cheshire rivals as Rush, and his assistant Mark Aizlewood, tasted managerial success for the first time.

Rush, who began his illustrious playing carrer at Chester back in 1979 has impressive coaching qualifications but no management experience.

Manager Ray Mathias has looked to his former club Tranmere for help and on-loan signing Alan Navarro gave a performance in midfield that suggested he could fit the bill.

Colin Larkin’s 25-yard third goal for The Stags proved too much for a small section of the Deva crowd who booed Vaughan’s son Stephen Jnr, City’s young right back.

But with a return to the Football League just 24 hours away no-one encisaged manager Mark Wright going.