News from Deva Stadium February 2017

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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