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28
February 2017
LINCOLN MATCH
Chester’s away league match at Lincoln
City will now take place on Tuesday 11 April, kick-off
19.45. The Imps are involved in the FA Cup on March
11th – the date of the original fixture.
27 February 2017
HORWOOD GOAL BRINGS THREE POINTS
Evan Horwood scored his first goal for Chester
with an exquisite lob that brought three points
from Saturday’s trip to Southport, ending
a run of four successive defeats. The Blues started
well with Tom Shaw hitting the post in the opening
five minutes but the Sandgrounders posed plenty
of problems for Ryan Astles and Sam Hughes at the
heart of the Blues defence. Alex Lynch pulled off
a couple of fine saves to keep the home side out
before Horwood broke the deadlock. A long ball upfield
from Lynch picked out the midfielder who, spotting
Norman off his line, coolly lobbed the ‘keeper
from the edge of the penalty area in the 67th minute.
The crossbar came to Chester’s rescue twice
in as many minuttes as the home side pushed for
an equaliser but the Blues held out for victory.
Chester are next in action on Friday night when
they have an all-ticket televised home match with
Tranmere Rovers, kick-off 19.45hrs. Online ticket
sales are no longer being posted out but they are
still available to buy on a click and collect basis.
You can book your ticket at www.chesterfcretail.com
and pick it up from the ticket office before 16.00hrs
on Friday. League
table after Southport victory
21 February 2017
BLUES CAUGHT COLD
Chester suffered their fourth defeat in
the run as their poor form of 2017 continued at
Maidstone United on Saturday. Travelling down on
the morning of the game Chester were caught napping
at the start and found themselves 2-0 down after
just six minutes with shoddy defending gifting Kevin
Lokko and Delano Sam-Yorke both goals. Worse was
to come with a third goal from Joe Pigott and fourth
goal from Lokko just before the break in what was
a truly awful opening half. All Chester had to show
as an attacking force was a cross/shot from lone
front man James Alabi.
Manager Jon McCarthy rang the changes at half-time
bringing on Kane Richards and Ross Killock (for
Tom Shaw and Wade Joyce) and Chester reverted to
a 4-4-2 formation. Seven minutes after the restart
a foul on Evan Horwood gave Alabi the opportunity
to reduce the arrears from the penalty spot which
he duly did. A looping header from Sam Hughes made
it 4-2 on 65 minutes as Chester came back into the
game. Elliott Durrell missed a great chance to reduce
the deficit to a single goal pulling a shot wide
from ten yards and Lee Worgan made a great save
from close range to deny Alabi in the closing stages.
Manager McCarthy said following the defeat: “I
know how it goes and I know what people will be
thinking with the run that we are on, it’s
one of those occasions where talk is cheap and you
have show what you can do on the pitch.” “When
we have been doing well I never got too carried
away and it is the same now. I know how football
is and how a few results can change things. This
week has been about us as a group focusing on
what we need to do and where we need to improve.”
“They say the definition of stupidity is
to keep repeating the same mistake over and over
again so we have been putting different things
in place to ensure that we get out of this run
we are in as quickly as possible.”
“We watched the Maidstone game on Monday and
it wasn’t pretty. We went over everything
that went wrong and what we should have done better.
We’ve addressed it and we move on.”
Chester travel away again on Saturday when they
make the short trip to bottom four side Southport.
The Sandgrounders, then managed by Steve Burr, dumped
the Blues out of the FA Cup 1-0 earlier in the season.
Since then Burr has departed to Stalybridge and
Andy Preece has taken over the managerial role.
15 February 2017
TRANMERE TICKETS
Tickets are now on general sale for the
home televised game against Tranmere Rovers on Friday
3 March, kick-off 19.45hrs. They are on sale from
10.00 to 16.00hrs, Monday to Friday, until Friday
3 March from the Ticket Office at the ground. Season
ticket and Cestrian10 ticket holders should use
the match voucher from their ticket books on the
day of the game. Tickets will also be available
on Sunday 26 February from 10.00 to 14.00hrs. The
club will also be doing online sales, see here.
13 February 2017
BLUES FAIL SCREEN TEST
Chester turned in a lackluster performance
in their live TV game on Saturday, going down 2-1
at home to Gateshead. The Blues had the better of
the first period with Tom Shaw missed a great chance
to open the scoring, firing straight at Heed ‘keeper
James Montgomery from ten yards but the Blues did
make the breakthrough on 31 minutes after a Ryan
Astles knockdown found its way through the Gateshead
rearguard to Blaine Hudson who fired home from close
range.
The lead was short lived with the visitors drawing
level just five minutes later with Danny Johnson
picking the ball up on the right, running through
a back peddling defence before shooting past Liam
Roberts who perhaps should have done better to block
the effort.
James Alabi gave himself half a chance in the second
half opening stages, firing just over from a narrow
angle, but other than that the Blues were devoid
of ideas as Gateshead took control and the lead
on 62 minutes as Jordan Burrow fired past Roberts
after the Blues defence had failed to clear their
lines.
The defeat leaves Chester 12th in the league with
just one win so far in 2017, and three defeats on
the run. They are next in action on Saturday when
they travel to 21st placed Maidstone United, kick-off
15.00hrs.
8 February 2017
FIXTURE CHANGES
The home game with Barrow due to be played
on Saturday 25 February has now been moved to Tuesday
28 March, kick-off 19.45hrs, as the Bluebirds will
be in FA Trophy action on the original date. Chester's
away game at Southport on Tuesday 28 February has
been brought forward and will now take place on
the Saturday 25th, kick-off 15.00hrs.
Fixtures
7 February 2017
LAST GASP DEFEAT FOR BLUES
Chester
were within six minutes of recording an impressive
victory at Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday
before the home side struck twice in the closing
stages to grab all three points from an entertaining
game.
Man of the match Luke George almost gave the blues
the lead from the start seeing a shot hit the outside
of the post from close range in the opening minutes.
Goalkeeper Liam Roberts saved a sixth minute penalty
from Oliver Hawkins as the home side struck back
but it was Chester who shaded the opening half with
Johnny Hunt, Elliott Durrell and James Alabi all
going close.
On the stroke of half-time the Daggers took the
lead through a long range effort from on-loan player
Jack Sheppard. Chester started the second period
well and drew level on 50 minutes with George shooting
home in a crowded area after Evan Horwood had done
well on the left to get a cross into the danger
area.
Chester took the lead eight minutes later with a
delightful strike from Tom Shaw sending Ryan Astles’
lay-off into the top corner. Five minutes from time
Shaun Donnellan’s header was heading into
the net before Johnny Hunt handled it on the line,
referee Alan Young sent off the Blues player and
Corey Whitely just squeezed the resulting spot-kick
past Roberts.
With the game heading for a draw referee Young found
six minutes of added time during which the home
side sealed victory as Harry Maguire-Drew was first
to react to a Daggers header that crashed off the
bar to turn the ball home.
League
table after Dagenham defeat
Picture © Rick Matthews (Chester Leader)
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