City turned in a great second half performance to come from behind to beat League One side Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough last night in the first round of the LDV Vans Trophy.

Manager Ian Rush gave full debuts to three players, Chris MacKenzie in goal, youngster Robbie Booth from the youth team and Richard Hope who signalled City’s fightback with a second half equaliser.

Kevin Ellison with a terrific 25-yarder, two minutes after Hope’s effort, proved to be the match winner as City completed their comeback after Steve MacLean had opened the scoring for the Owls on 29 minutes.

Chester travel to League One side Sheffield Wednesday tonight for a first round LDV Vans Trophy game (kick-off 19:45hrs). It’s not clear whether Kevin McIntyre or Michael Branch will feature in the side. Manager Ian Rush was basing his decision on whether to include them or not after yesterday’s training session. Cortez Belle sits out the last game of his three match suspension.

City’s recent record in the competition is poor and we’ve only passed the first round stage on one occasion in the last eight years, in 2000/01 when Paul Carden’s goal defeated Hull City. Chester’s best performance came in 1986/87 when they reached the Northern Final before losing 2-1 on aggregate to Mansfield Town.

Both Kevin McIntyre (eye infection) and Michael Branch (hamstring) are doubtful for tomorrow’s trip to Lincoln City. Blues boss Ian Rush will also be without the suspended Cortez Belle, Daryl Clare who continues to recover from his hernia operation, and Andy watson who is yet to pull on a City shirt since his summer signing.

After a poor start to the season, City under Rush are looking to extend their unbeaten run to four games agains The Imps who currently lie just above them in League Two. Like bottom club Notts County, Lincoln are without a home victory to their name this season. Former City player Michael Blackwood misses the game for the home side with a stomach strain.

City and Cambridge United fought out a 0-0 draw at Deva Stadium yesterday. The Blues had plenty of the possession but it was the visitors who were twice denied by the woodwork in a hard-fought draw that saw City slip to 21st, one place above their opponents in League Two.

Striker Darryn Stamp started his first senor game of the season, and, with Michael Branch still recovering from a hamstring injury, and Daryl Clare his hernia operation, was partnered up front by Kevin Rapley. Shaun Whalley, a 17-year-old striker who has played for the Youth and Reserve teams this season, made his first-team debut coming on from the bench with ten minutes remaining to replace Stamp.

Two players from the Chester City youth squad were members of the Great Britain team at the World Catholic games in Malta recently. James Scales and David McCoy made significant contributions to the British side and won silver medals as the British Under 17 team finished runners-up to hosts Malta.

En route to the final the British team beat Holland 4-0, with McCoy scoring one of the goals, and Spain ‘B’ 1-0. In the semi-finals they again defeated Spain ‘A’ but lost 1-0 to Malta in the final. Congratulations to both youngsters.

Seven team took part in the tournament played at the St Aloysius Football Pitch, Malta. The final results were:

Michael Branch is recovering from a hamstring strain and is expected to be in tomorrow’s squad that faces Cambridge United at Deva Stadium. Fellow striker Darryn Stamp looks set to return to the side after his recovery from an achilles injury picked up in the pre-season.

Stamp came on for the final few minutes at Glanford Park last Saturday and started, and scored, in City’s 1-0 Cheshire Cup win at Witton Albion on Monday. Two players missing tomorrow are Kevin McIntyre who is suffering from an eye infection and Cortez Belle who begins a three match ban following his red card last week.

Just two weeks after taking charge at City, manager Ian Rush is being linked with the soon-to-be-vacated managerial post with Wales.

Despite his lack of managerial experience, Rush is many peoples choice to take over from Mark Hughes who vacates the post in two matches time. Other candidates for the post are expected to include Sir Bobby Robson, Bryan Flynn, John Toshack and Gary Speed.

City chairman Steve Vaughan says the club won’t stand in Rush’s way should he be offered the position, he said: “It would be typical of Chester City if Ian was to leave, just when we were getting things on an even keel again. But we wouldn’t stand in his way if he was offered the job and decided he wanted it. I suppose he could do both jobs, but we would have to see how it panned out.”

Chairman Steve Vaughan has received two firm offers for defender Danny Collins, and had an enquiry about his services from a third. Both Sheffield United and Sunderland have tabled bids for the promising defender who was signed by Steve Mungall from Buckley Town in December 2001. Collins, initially signed as a striker, spent a successful loan spell at Vauxhall Motors two years ago in the heart of their defence that went on to famously knock QPR out of the FA Cup. He returned to City and has been a virtual ever-present since, missing only one game last season through injury. Danny has made 70+5 appearances for the Blues.

A superb first half performance at Glanford Park laid the foundation for City’s second win in a week that lifts them from the foot of League Two.

Goals by Kevin Ellison (left) and Phil Bolland gave City a two-goal half-time lead, and in truth, they could have doubled that advantage with Cortez Belle guilty of missing two clear chances. After the break Ben Davies hit the bar before the expected pressure from the league leaders arrived.

Andy Butler headed home for The Iron and minutes later Belle was given a straight red card after referee Webster adjudged that he’d made contact with his arm on ex-City player Andy Crosby. The Blues held out for a last agonising nine minutes and an extra five minutes added-on time to record their first away victory of the season.

Striker Darryn Stamp

Stamp may be in line for a surprise recall tomorrow at one of his former clubs Scunthorpe United though Monday’s Cheshire Cup game at Witton Albion may well be the striker's next outing. Manager Ian Rush looks set to name an unchanged side for tomorrow's clash at Glanford park.

Manager Ian Rush took his place in the Deva Stadium dug-out for the first time on Saturday and, with assistant manager Mark Aizlewood, saw City defeat Cheshire neighbours Macclesfield Town by a single goal to register their victory of the 2004/05 campaign.

Danny Collins’ winner could not have been better timed. It was three minutes into added-on time when the defender’s header from Kevin Ellison’s corner was adjudged, by the assistant referee, to have crossed the goal line to give City the three points.

Rush had the players in for extra training last week following their poor start to the campaign, and it showed. Right from the start City displayed an urgency and passion that had been missing this season until now. The team reverted to a flat back four and Paul Carden returned to captain the side from midfield. Darren Edmondson, with over 400 league games under his belt, replaced young defender Stephen Vaughan, and with Ben Davies retained in midfield alongside Stewart Drummond the side had a lot more shape to it.

After the win Rush said: “The extra training isn’t as bad as it sounds. Besides the obvious fitness training, we’ve been working on the fundamentals of the side like passing and keeping our shape. Macclesfield are always a tough side to play against, but it’s good to see all the hard work we’ve been putting in paying off. There’s a long way to go and I know there’s still a lot of hard work to be done.”

He added: “I couldn’t have asked anything more. It was good that the crowd got behind the team as well. For me this is really my first game as I’ve had five sessions with them and we’ve had to get them organised as maybe they weren’t organised before.”

Chester entertain Cheshire neighbours Macclesfield Town at Deva Stadium tomorrow for Ian Rush’s first home game in charge of the side. Team selection remains uncertain with Paul Carden, Richard Hope and Chris MacKenzine all given a run out, and performing well, in the reserves during midweek and may feature tomorrow. “The weekend game against Macclesfield is going to be a big match for us. We need to record a victory. At the moment we have a hill to climb, but if we don’t start winning soon it will become a mountain.” said Rush, looking forward to tomorrow’s home clash.

Goals from Andy Harris

Rush said: “I have to say, the comments made be my ex-Liverpool team-mate Mark Lawrenson on TV last weekend really disappointed me. Mark seemed to mock my appointment. He suggested I wasn’t management material. Perhaps Mark has forgotten all the hard work I’ve put into coaching for the last five years. Maybe he thinks it’s helpful to suggest the image of Ian Rush the player, who I admit never thought of becoming a manager, is still the same person I am today. If Mark spoke to me now, I’m sure I could give him a much more realistic impression of my coaching qualities. What he said was an insult not only to me, but to those running Chester who I know interviewed many outstanding candidates before they appointed me. Does he not think they closely examined the credentials of everyone who wanted the job? If Mark doesn’t think I’ve earned this chance, I’d like to hear why.”

Chairman Steve Vaughan wasn’t too impressed with the comments either. He said: “I find the remarks and the attitude of Lawrenson quite offensive. How on earth can a failed football manager like Mark Lawrenson sit in judgment on somebody who is just embarking on his managerial career? I interviewed a number of well respected managers, and Ian was given the job ahead of them because of the ideas he had, so in a way, Lawrenson’s comments were critical of my decision and that’s disturbing.”

According to the stats on soccerbase.com Lawrenson’s managerial record reads: