Blues go down to last minute defeat at Cambridge

Cambridge United completed the double over Chester City, but only just, following a last minute winner from striker Danny Crow, who headed past John Danby to claim the points for The U's.


Cambridge, led on the pitch by former Chester captain, Paul Carden, had struggled to get past a resilient City side, who had several chances in the first half, that really should have warranted more than the 0-0 scoreline at half time.

They were to pay for their misses too, as Robbie Wilmott's last minute cross found it's way to Crow who made no mistake and grabbed the points for the home side.

It means City now slide to 24 points from safety, with only 23 matches remaining, that's of course, if the club manage to avoid being kicked out of the League on Thursday.

Chester City 2 Cambridge United 4

Chester City finally kicked off their Blue Square Premier League season today, but sadly went down 4-2 at home to Cambridge Utd.

Ex Chester striker Chris Holroyd came back to haunt the Blues with a well taken hat trick, despite Chester taking a 2-0 lead.

Unbelievably, Chester opened the scoring within the first 20 seconds, through new signing Ben Wilkinson, son of ex Leeds & England manager, Howard Wilkinson.

Ex Everton striker Nick Chadwick netted the second goal on 19 minutes having come on as sub for the injured Anthony Barry, having seized on a poor back pass from ex City defender Wayne Hatswell, and Chadwick, who had only signed on for a year on Friday afternoon, shaped himself, and finished off nicely to give the Blues a 2 goal cushion.

It wasn't enough however, as the tide turned just before half time, when Cambridge were awarded a straight forward penalty, and Holroyd smashed it home, then just a minute later midfielder Robbie Willmott struck a deflected free kick past John Danby in the Chester goal to make it 2-2 in first half stoppage time.

In the second half, Cambridge took control, and Holroyd was again on the mark after 74 minutes with a fine bicycle kick following a perfect cross from former Tranmere winger Andy Parkinson.

Holroyd completed his hat trick, with a tap in on 89 minutes, which condemned City to their opening day defeat to the U's.

So, the first match is out of the way, but plenty of positives to take from the game, as City dominated the first half, but thanks to a lack of concentration, ended up going in level when it should have been 2-0 at half time.

Elsewhere on the pitch, Neil Ashton, signed from Shrewsbury, looked half decent, and up front Lloyd Ellams put in a good performance.

So, it's Oxford away next on Tuesday night.

City are back in!

The Football Association have granted Chester City the licence to play football!

The news has just broken that the FA insisted that the Conference had broken it's own rules by getting Chester City to accept a further 15 point deduction, and that is why affiliation was not forthcoming.

It now means that the Blues will play Cambridge United on Saturday at the Deva Stadium, in what should have been City's third game of the new campaign.

There is now relief all round, but now the battle to find a suitable owner begins for the bulk of Chester fans.

Now Gateshead game is off

The Football Association have now forced Chester City to cancel their game at home to Gateshead Town tomorrow night.

The Football Conference were also under orders to ensure that the game was postponed, as the FA have yet to grant the Blues affiliation to their organisation.

Earlier in the day, the Football Conference clubs had voted unanimously in favour of letting Chester City take part in the Blues Square Premier League, but this seems to have been just a flimsy exercise that the FA hoped one club would say "No" and the matter would be settled, Chester City would not be allowed in.

Thankfully not one BSP club wants to kill off Chester City, and the FA are beginning to come in for more criticism as they constantly refuse to say exactly what the stumbling blocks are.

So, the saga rumbles on again, and now Chester must wait until Thursday for the Conference & the FA to meet in what is scheduled to be the meeting to end the issue.

City's next game is at home to Cambridge on Saturday.

The club have issued a rather large statement, with Stephen Vaughan building himself up to be something he'snot - a hero. The statement is here.