Chester City 1 Forest Green 2

Well that was a load of garbage wasn't it?

Chester had the chance to offer themselves a semi-realistic chance of escaping the drop had they beaten a Forest Green side last night that had only just clinched their first victory of the season on Saturday.

But in true City style, they blew it thanks to a poor performance against their fellow strugglers, who on the back of this scoreline, move out of the bottom four, whilst Chester now languish 24 points from safety, and are certainly now heading towards Blue Square North football next season.

Mick Wadsworth was a frustrated man along with the rest of us last night, as Chester simply didn't turn up, amazing really considering how they battled in the draw at Wrexham on Sunday. This was another simply unacceptable showing from the Blues who deserved what they got in a shambolic first half performance, which gifted Forest Green all the space in the world to take a 2-0 lead.

You would have thought the lads would have known how much was riding on this result - maybe they thought the win would come their way with the minimum of effort, but whatever the case, they certainly under-estimated Forest Green.

The Gloucestershire outfit certainly started the busier of the two teams, and it was no surprise when Conal Platt gave them the lead with a well taken finish on 18 minutes, however, he was given all the time and space to pick his spot.

Sean Rigg then made it 2-0 eight minutes before half time with another fine effort, and that pretty much wrote City's chances off, and a crescendo of boos was heard from the home support, with another blast at half time form the unhappy 1000 City fans inside the Deva.

Kevin Roberts pulled one back for City just five minutes after the restart with a header from a corner, and hope was offered, but Gregg Blundell who came on as a substitute at half time had a chance as he chased down a ball in the penalty area, but his shot was saved by the Forest Green keeper.

That was pretty much that, and City failed to get level before the final whistle went, and the disgruntled Blues fans made their way home after yet another sorry home defeat.

Previous defeats at the Deva had been to top half sides, but this one was a game City had to win, and failed, and are now staring down the barrel of relegation.

City out to cut the Forest down

Chester City go in the search of 3 badly needed points tonight at home to Forest Green, at the Deva Stadium.

It’s a match that the Blues must win as they aim to reduce their deficit at the bottom of the Blue Square Premier League, and fresh from the draw at Wrexham on Saturday, confidence will hopefully be there as the Blues have shown that they are getting harder to beat, something they need to turn into wins though.

Forest Green arrive at the Deva having just secured their first win of the season at home to Grays on Saturday, and will be looking to improve on a record that has seen them pick up just 2 points in 6 away games, mind you one of those was at Oxford in a rare slip by the Conference leaders. That win against Grays followed 4 successive draws.

Forest Green took a thrashing at the start of the month at Cambridge, going down 7-0 and the Blues fans will hold dreams of a similar scoreline tonight, a highly unlikely one though, considering Chester are having issues scoring goals!

The Blues have lost 4 games at the Deva this season, although it could be argued that the standard of opposition in those defeats was pretty high, but one thing is certain, Chester must win this game tonight to give themselves a fighting chance of escaping the drop this season.

A win tonight and City will go to -11 points, and on to Saturday’s game at hayes & Yeading with confidence of getting into single figures.

As for City’s line up tonight, well Chris Lynch will obviously be missing following his injury in the Wrexham derby, Sean Kelly is expected to take his place, whilst in the middle, Clark Keitle will make his home debut following the loanee’s move from Rochdale, and up front there is debate over whether Gregg Blundell should start following his performance in the Wrexham game, Lloyd Ellams is on standby.

So, hopefully City will take the points tonight and City can begin to make a real challenge to escape the drop!