City
took their three match undefeated run across the county
to Macclesfield Town looking to extend their recent upturn
in form into the new year.
Blues manager Mark Wright was missing the services of
midfielder Damien Mozika who served a one match suspension,
Jay Harris coming into the side who beat Accrington Stanley
48 hours earlier. Also back in the starting X1 was Shaun
Kelly, who, having recovered from a hamstring injury,
replaced Richie Partridge.
The home side, who had shipped four goals in their previous
two matches, fielded two ex-Blues players in their starting
line-up, Sean Hessey and Simon Yeo.
The game was only six minutes old before Macc opened the
scoring. A quick move down the left saw Terry Dunfield
slip the ball through to James Jennings who continued
his run before crossing to the far post where Nat Brown,
on loan from rivals Wrexham, headed past John Danby who
had no chance in the City goal.
City enjoyed plenty of possession during the opening period
but were unable to convert that into chances. It was the
home side in fact who almost doubled their lead as Gareth
Evans saw a long range effort just clear Danby’s
bar. At the other end Kevin Ellison did get a run at goal
but Jon Brain saw the danger coming and saved with ease.
Yeo saw a smart effort saved
by Danby and Brown wasted a great opportunity shooting
high and wide when well placed after the City defence
had failed to clear and Evans cross. In their last real
effort of the half Ryan Lowe aw a shot deflected wide
for a corner, but, as happened many times against against
Stanley, City once again failed to take advantage of
the set piece.
The Blues began the second
period brightly and drew level through Lowe on 55 minutes.
Ellison’s attempted through ball bounced of Jennings
into the path of Lowe who curled a great effort past
Brain from the edge of the box.
City began to pressure
for a second and Hessey was on hand to clear from the
line after Brain had fumbled a cross. Wright was forced
onto a change on 69 minutes as Ellison hobbled off with
what appeared to be a hamstring injury, Eddie Johnson
took his place up front. Macc also made changes in attack
bringing on Martin Gritton and Danny Thomas.
The change seemed to spur the home side and Danby was
on hand to save from Gritton when it looked like the
striker was about to restore the home advantage.
The second goal came minutes later though as referee
Andy D’Urso pointed to the spot after Kelly was
controversially adjudged to have handled the ball in
the area. It was more a case of the ball hitting Kelly
from close range after Hessey had pulled a ball back
into the box. Evans made no mistake with the spot-kick.
Brain made a good save to deny Lowe a second equaliser
minutes later as City looked for a quick reply, but
it was the home side who scored six minutes from time
to end any thoughts of a City fight back. A quick passing
move involving three Macc players set up Gritton who
steered the ball past Danby from 12 yards out.
Two
goals from Ryan Lowe and another clean sheet bring three
points against Accrington Stanley.
The Blues’ run of two wins and a draw in their last
three matches has given them a welcome boost ahead of
the busy holiday period that sees games against Macclesfield
Town and Luton Town coming up.
City were forced into a change, defender Shaun Kelly had
a slight hamstring strain and, with two games in four
days wasn't risked. He took a place on the bench with
Richie Partridge taking his place in the starting line-up.
Stanley will probably think themselves unlucky not to
come away with a point from this encounter, they squandered
several chances, and were denied on three occasions by
last ditch tackles from man-of-the-match Kevin Roberts
before the Blues opened the scoring on 34 minutes through
Lowe.
Partridge slipped a pass through to Kevin Ellison on the
left, it looked as though the ball was going out before
Ellison shrug off a challenge, cut along the goal line
and pulled the ball back for Lowe to score past Ian Dunbavin
from six yards.
The Blues had John Danby to thank for maintaining the
lead at the interval as he pulled off a great save to
tip a free kick from James Ryan over the angle.
With the game in the balance on the hour mark City doubled
their lead. Ellison sent a through ball for Anthony Barry
on the right, he beat his man and took the ball towards
the near post before being tripped from behind. Referee
Steve Bratt pointed straight to the spot and Lowe sent
Dunbavin the wrong way to score City’s second.
Danby made a great full length save to push a John Miles
shot onto the foot of the post and out for a corner as
the City defence backed off.
City had two chances in the closing minutes to grab a
third. Substitute Eddie Johnson almost connected with
a right wing cross but Dunbavin saved at his feet after
initially dropping the centre and moments later Kevin
Ellison turned on the edge of the box and sent a dipping
shot over the Stanley ‘keeper on to the crossbar
and out.
Christmas
started early for the 200-plus Chester fans who cheered
on their side to a well-earned point against League Two
high-fliers, Bradford City.
In truth, Chester rode their luck and could have crossed
the Pennines home with nothing to show for their efforts.
But a quality performance from goalkeeper John Danby made
sure the Blues secured their second clean sheet in a row.
Bradford had most of the game’s attacking play,
with Steve Jones and Omar Daley flying down both wings.
But Chester packed the box when each cross came in, and
most were efficiently dealt with.
In midfield, Chester harried the Bradford players enough
so they made several enforced errors and the Bantams started
getting quite frustrated with one another. Damien Mozika
was actually the best midfield player on the park –
aiming to get past a player each time he had the ball,
and succeeding more times than not, unless he was fouled
in the process.
The nearest Bradford came to scoring in the first half
was when a good Jones cross was cleared from close to
the line by Kevin Roberts. Towards the end of the half,
Danby was called on to make a good save from a Jones shot.
Kevin Ellison made a ‘Goal of the Season’
attempt with a shot from near the halfway line when he
noticed Bradford ‘keeper Rhys Evans was off his
line. But it didn’t really come close and nor did
a later long-range effort from Ellison.
Bradford were quick off the blocks in the second half,
with Barry Conlon having a shot that just went over the
bar in the opening spell. This was followed by a Michael
Boulding header that went close, and then a top drawer
save by Danby from another Jones shot.
The action turned to the other end, and Ellison had another
shot that was off range. He had a better opportunity soon
after, but his strike hit Ryan Lowe on the back and re-bounded
out. Chester’s only other serious attempt came with
an overhead kick from Kevin Roberts, but that went over
the bar.
Danby kept Chester in the game when the ball bobbled around
the box in one of those exchanges that, more often than
not, ends with it finishing in the back of the net. As
Danby dived for the ball, his legs kept it out of the
goal.
Bradford carried on pressing right until the end, but
it was that man Danby who saved a shot from Graeme Lee
in the 4th minute of injury time to make sure Chester
got their hard-fought point.
As the City players went over to salute the travelling
fans, it felt like one of those draws that was nearly
as good as a win. Mozika certainly enjoyed the limelight
– hugging and kissing those who came down to congratulate
him. On the strength of that performance, it was as well
the Chester fans made the most of it, as they might not
be seeing much more of him.
Goals either side of the break from Ryan Lowe and Kevin
Roberts gave City both their second win in three matches
and their second clean sheet of the season.
Manager
Mark Wright had both Kevin Ellison and Jay Harris available
following suspension and both made the starting X1 while
midfielder Damien Mozika, having recovered from injury
started the game on the bench.
It was the Magpies though that had
the better of the early exchanges and saw a shot from
Myles Weston deflect wide in the opening minutes.
On seven minutes Delroy Facey saw
a goalbound header cleared following a County corner.
Chester hadn’t threatened much
in the opening period, Lowe being ruled offside when
racing onto an Ellison through ball, but on 12 minutes
they took the lead.
A quick passing move involving Ellison
and Anthony Barry down the right set up Ellison who
crossed for Lowe to apply the finishing touch past Russell
Hoult in the visitor’s goal from six yards.
City began to get a grip on the game
and Ellison saw a long-range effort, following a Lowe
pull-back, fizz just wide moments after the goal.
At the other end Roberts did well
to clear a dangerous ball in from Mitch Hanson. Facey
again saw a header cleared as John Danby did well to
claw away his goalbound effort.
Both Ellison and Lowe saw curling
free-kick’s tipped over by Hault and as the half
drew to an end Mark Hughes saw an effort go wide following
a Lowe corner.
Danby was in action soon after the
re-start coming to collect a Weston effort before the
Blues doubled their lead on 50 minutes.
A right wing corner was played back
to Lowe who unleashed a shot on goal from 20 yards;
Hault could only parry the effort and Roberts was on
hand to steer the loose ball home from close range in
front of the delighted City fans.
Just after the hour mark Roberts came
close to claiming his second as he saw an effort from
18 yards curl just wide on the diving Hault.
Notts continued to press and Paul
Linwood almost sliced into his own net as he cleared
a cross from substitute Jamie Forrester.
Mozika replaced Harris with 20 minutes
remaining, freeing up Ellison who took advantage of
his extra space on the right wing when he cleverly beat
Michael Johnson and raced through on goal only to see
Hault again save well.
With the game deep into stoppage
time the visitors were reduced to ten men as Forrester
was shown a straight red card following a late tackle
on Mozika.
There was only one way this game could go – not
only did we have someone called “The Gloryhunter”
following our progress until defeat, we were also facing
one Darren Anderton making his final appearance on a football
field.
And I’m afraid
Chester, possibly one of the least “glorious”
teams you could pick to follow, followed the script
to the letter with the ex-England international coming
on to turn the game and score a sizzling 88th minute
winner. It could almost have been an episode from The
Dream Team, featuring Harchester United. Whoops, what
am I thinking?
It really is hard to think of much
to report from the first 20 minutes or so. Ryan Lowe
had a strike which was well wide of the target and Bournemouth
had a similar effort, but it seemed largely a case of
two poor teams battling for scraps.
The match livened up a little after
the opening spell and James Vaughan was cautioned on
the 21st minute for a strong challenge on Matthew Tubbs.
Bournemouth also saw a deflected strike saved by John
Danby’s legs as he dived for the ball. But it
seemed pretty clear that this game was heading for 0-0
at half-time, with neither team making a serious threat
on goal.
As The Gloryhunter did his half-time
interviews, it seemed hard not to agree with this analysis:
“This is the worst game of football I’ve
ever seen”, he said. I told him the second half
would be an improvement and it was – for a neutral.
The second half actually started much
like the first until Chester bought on Richie Partridge
to replace an ineffectual Paul McManus on the 55th minute
and a minute later, Anderton came on to replace Josh
Ward.
Partridge tried to make an impression
and won a good ball on the right which he pulled across
to an unmarked Lowe. Unfortunately Lowe took more time
than he should over the ball and missed a golden opportunity
for a clear shot on target.
Tony Dinning came on to replace Glenn
Rule on the 63rd minute, making his first appearance
since the home game against Wycombe back on August 16.
But his time on the field was limited as a tussle for
the ball with Danny Hollands on the 81st minute saw
him lash out his arm and get sent off for violent conduct.
The resultant Anderton free-kick came close, and was
a warning for what was to follow.
Bournemouth pressed on, and on just
seven minutes later, a Paul Linwood headed clearance
went straight to Anderton. He showed his class in taking
no time to control the ball and make an unstoppable
strike into the net from 25 yards out. He had stolen
the show, and it was well deserved.
Chester came no closer to scoring
in the dying minutes than they had done all game, and
when referee James Linington blew for time it was ‘hats
off to Sicknote’ and ‘farewell’ to
The Gloryhunter. Unless there’s going to be a
drastic improvement, it’s hard to imagine there
will be any Chester glory this season.
ZANZALA JOINS MARINE
BLUES BEATEN AGAIN
MACCLESFIELD
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