July 11	Caernarfon Town	(A)	7-1	Beckett 17, 50, 56, Richardson 12, 64 - pen, A.Shelton 79, Bennett 58.
July 14	Connah's Quay Nomads	(A)	2-2	Bennett 61, 88.
July 17	Tranmere Rovers	(H)	2-4	Beckett 32, 58.
July 18	Wrexham	(A)	2-0	J.Jones, Lancaster.
July 20	Cwmbran Town	(A)	4-0	Murphy 3, 6, Cross 11, Beckett 45.
July 22	Bath City	(A)	2-1	Bennett 2, 47.
July 25	Everton	(H)	1-1	Beckett 67.
July 28	Everton Youth	(A)	0-5
July 28	Blackburn Rovers X1	(A)	0-5
July 29	Port Vale	(A)	1-3	Kilgannon.
July 30	Runcorn	(A)	0-2
Aug 1	Total Network Solutions	(A)	3-2	Murphy 10, Bennett 16, Beckett 41.
Aug 4	Leek Town	(A)	1-1	A.Shelton 90.

Disappointment for the three hundred or so spectators as Chester sent their second string team to Harrison Park. Everyone had assumed City would be sending the first team and Leek would surely have charged less than £5 had they known that the opposition would be so depleted. The tannoy played a Moody Blues number "Isn't life strange?" before the kick off. Were they trying to tell us something?

Nevertheless the lads in stripes gave a very good account of themselves. At least there was an opportunity to see City new boy Alex Smith back from injury. He played on the left of midfield and his influence grew as the game progressed. Thompson and Lancaster made a solid pairing at the centre of defence until the latter was given a terrific whack by Dean Trott's elbow and had to be led from the field with blood pouring from his nose. Blackburn came on to replace him.

City's best chance in the first half came after an impressive show of speed by Shelton on the right whose cross set up Jones. His close range shot was blocked by keeper Ingham. Cutler, returning to his former club also made a solid save from Leek's best scoring opportunity early in the game.

Ray Newlands played in goal for Leek in the second half and Neil Ellis once again met his former team. Danny Carson was having a very steady influence in midfield as City more than held their own. Wes Kilgannon came on for the second half and showed some good footwork on the right wing.

Chester City: Cutler, A Shelton, Lloyd, Reid (Blackburn 59), Thompson, Lancaster, Kilgannon, G. Shelton (Carson 13), Patterson, Jones, Doughty.

Chester City: Brown, Davidson, Crosby, Cross, Wright, Flitcroft, Woods, Priest (G.Shelton 67), Bennett (A.Shelton 79), Wright, Murphy, Beckett (J.Jones 70), Sub not used, Cutler.
Everton: Myhre, Thomas (O’Kane 79), Cleland, Tiler, Short, Farrelly, Barmby (Milligan 82), Hutchinson (McCann 74), Oster (Jevons 74), Spencer (Branch 74), Ferguson, Sub not used, Allen.
Referee: Michael Jones (Chester).

This was a well earned draw for City who fought back well in the second half and, but for the woodwork, might even have sneaked a shock winner in a game played with a competitive edge.

The game, which was threatened with a players strike until a couple of hours before kick-off, went ahead after the chairman had apparently paid players outstanding wages at a motorway service station in the morning. The said chairman wasn’t present for the match which saw a second ‘vote of no confidence’ in the him as hundreds of supporters held aloft red cards (supplied by the newly formed ISA) to show their disapproval at the way the club is being run.

City once again fielded on-loan Jonathan Cross at left back, and there was a surprise return from injury for midfielder Chris Priest. Everton fielder a strong line-up for their first match under manager Walter Smith.

The opening stages were played around the City box with Everton squandering a number of good chances, Duncan Ferguson and John Spencer the culprits. Credit to Wayne Brown in the City goal though. He made a number of crucial blocks and pulled of a superb double save at the feet of Ferguson after 10 minutes.

City’s first effort came through Chris Priest who fired in a shot after a good knock down by John Murphy. Ferguson was again foiled by Brown before it was Luke Beckett’s turn to get in on the act, shooting on goal after battling through the Everton defence.

City’s best chance came on the stroke of half-time. Darren Wright crossed for Murphy to head down in the six yard box. The ball fell to David Flitcroft who side-footed the ball over the bar totally unmarked from close range.

The City defence was finally beaten in the 53rd minute. Spencer scoring from eight yards out after build up work from Oster and Farrelly.

Five minutes later City almost equalised when Beckett picked up a through ball from Flitcroft. He beat Myhre to the ball but his toe-poked shot trickled agonisingly wide of the far post. However, on 67 minutes Beckett got the goal his efforts deserved. Once again it was a knock down from John Murphy in the box, Beckett turned on a sixpence and fired home from six yards out.

A bit of Chester history took place as substitutes Gary and Andy Shelton became the first father/son combination to play for the first team. With 15 minutes remaining City almost grabbed the winner as matt Woods hit the crossbar following a well worked free kick.

Sounds like a right farce this one. Chester turned up late for the match at Chepstow Town's ground and the game had to finish 10 minutes early as it was getting dark and there were no floodlights!

Three goals in the opening 11 minutes settled the game with Jogn Murphy scoring a brace before on-trial Jonathan Cross added a third. Luke beckett continued his scoring sequence with the fourth on the stroke of half time.

Rod Thomas played the first 45 minutes without appearing to aggrivate his recent injury. Manager Kevin Ratcliffe made a rare appearance in the second half replacing Jonathan Cross.PC Evans was present having a kick around with Neil Cutler at half-time!

Chester City: (4-4-2) Brown; Davidson (A. Shelton 81), Crosby, Whelan, Cross, Flitcroft, Richardson, Woods, Wright, Beckett, Bennett (Murphy 67). Subs not used: Cutler, Thompson, J Jones.
Tranmere Rovers: Coyne, Frail, Dupont, McGreal, Challinor (Hill 63), Irons, Morrissey, Santos (G Jones 81), Kelly, O'Brien, L Jones (Parkinson 63), Sub not used: Morgan

Tonight's game was played in the face of a setting sun which shone in Wayne Brown's eyes for the first half. The visitor's superiority in pace and skill showed for much of the game but City had some encouraging performances too.

Rovers took the lead when Kelly was first onto a speculative ball chipped back into the area after a corner was half cleared. Brown was caught in no-man's land. Beckett equalised for City as half time approached finshing with aplomb as he took the ball round the keeper and scored from a narrow angle.

Sadly some fighting followed in the main stand and a dozen unwelcome Tranmere fans were shown the door, while a City fan was arrested.

Tranmere regained the lead shortly before half time when Chester failed to clear a corner. Brown saved a shot with his legs but the ball looped up towards the crossbar and Challinor was first to react and nod it over the line.

Beckett equalised once again from a Flitcroft corner. His unmarked header found the far corner. A few minutes later Wright was caught in possession in midfield and Kelly slotted in his second from the resulting counter attack. Santos, one of two Frenchmen on trial with Tranmere then capped an impressive performance by volleying a goal from the edge of the box.

Chester City: Cutler, Whelan, Smith (Thompson 85), Richardson (A.Shelton 72), Crosby, P.Jones, Bennett, Woods (Wright 76), J.Jones, Thomas.

City made several changes to the side that comprehensively thrashed Caernarfon for the first-ever fixture at the new Deeside Stadium. The Blues struggled to find any rhythm in the first half and were restricted to long ranger efforts from Alex Smith and Gary Bennett. The closest the home side came to a goal was from a clever free kick from Jonathan Cross early on. Neil Davies gave Nomads the lead just before half time with a clever chip over Neil Cutler in the City goal. City had a great chance to level on the stroke of half time but Jon Jones wasted a good shooting chance.

Rod Thomas was City's most dangerous forward and he made several god runs but failed to create a real goalscoring chance. Collister saved well in the Nomads goal from a Whelan chance and a last ditch tackle prevented Gary Bennett bearing down on goal. Ten minutes into the second half an City were 2-0 down as Chris Davies scored from close range as the City defence made a hash of a cross.

Five minutes after the break Beckett scored his second after a long-range Richardson shot was fumbled, and more good work by Smith resulted in Beckett heading his hat-trick six minutes later.Within a couple of minutes Gary Bennett scored his first goal since November to make it five. On 64 minutes Richardson scored his second, converting a penalty after Bennett was brought down in the box.