Chadwick double helps City to third successive League win

Chester recorded their third League win in a row as they beat Grays 3-1 at the Recreation Ground, and now jump to within four points of wiping out the 25 points deduction inflicted by the Football Conference at the beginning of the season.


City headed to Essex on the back of League wins over Gateshead & Wimbledon, and were clearly in the mood to notch a trio of wins.

The game at Grays was supposed to be the first of the season, but was of course delayed thanks to the Football Association not giving the Blues a licence to play football.

City started brightly, and took the lead through Michael Coulson, on loan from Barnsley, following a measured ball from Kevin Roberts.

Grays pegged Chester back though, just minutes later, as the giant Folawiyo Onibuje towered above the City defence to level the game up.

Thankfully it wasn't long before the Blues got their noses in front again, as just before half time, Nick Chadwick took full advantage of a slip by Grays keeper Preston Edwards, to knock the ball home, and put City ahead at the break.

The clincher came again from Nick Chadwick, who scored the all important third from inside the box following more great work from the ever lively Coulson, and the goal ensured Chester would take the points home on their long journey back home.

It's great to see that since the appointment of Jim Harvey, that City have gone on the attack agains teams, something which we all thought we'd see earlier on in the season, based on the 25 point deduction meaning a "we've nothing to lose" attitude.

City are back in action again tomorrow night in their second of three away games in a row, as they travel to York, who currently sit four points off the play off positions, and are in confident mood themselves having knocked Crewe out of the FA Cup at the weekend.

Let's keep all fingers crossed for a Blues win that would take them to within one point of the "zero" milestone.

City face Grays in big match for Blues

Tomorrow sees City begin the first of three away games on the bounce, with the trip to Grays, the match that should have been City's first game of the season.

It was of course postponed thanks to the mess up with the paperwork linked to the transfer from the old company to new following the Administration case.

Grays are one the clubs that are in the bottom four along with Chester, and are currently 19 points clear of the Blues, and City know that a win for City would not only haul them closer to Grays, but would also bring them possibly closer to the moving safety mark, which right now is 22 points, with Hayes & Yeading, and Gateshead being the main targets.

Chester go into the game on a high, having secured their first back to back league wins sequence in 99 games, unbelievable that it could go on that long, but the victory over Wimbledon at the Deva last week, proved that their is life in the Blues yet, and manager Jimmy Harvey seems to have put his own style of attacking football on the club now, something tat we all wanted earlier on in the season.

City are still facing injury worries though, with Anthony Barry receiving treatment at Tranmere Rovers, thanks to the Blues inexcusably not having a physio on the books following the resignation last week from their previous one, who is rumoured to have not been paid, hence the reason for quitting the club.

Michael Lea is also out injured, and Harvey is looking to fix him with somewhere to help bring him back to fitness.

Gregg Blundell will be hoping to add to his goal in last weekend's game over Wimbledon, as City will possibly go with three up front once again, which worked so well last week, Nick Chadwick and Michael Coulson are expected to start.

Let's hope for another win for the Blues, as that break even point of "Zero" points gets closer and closer, remember it's just seven points away now!

Conference Clubs now vote on Chester's future

In the last few days, Chester City fans have seen their emotions literally go on a roller coaster ride, at the beginning of last week, the Club were relying on Solicitors & Refresh Recovery to get the Club's paperwork in order with the Football Association to get their licence to play football.

This was not achieved.

Then on Thursday, a deal was struck where Chester would accept a 25 point penalty to begin the season with. So football was the subject of fans talk once again, and who would be playing in the first game at Grays.

A deal was struck - or so we thought.

On Friday, it was then revealed that the FA had ordered the conference to postpone the game or face being in breach of the rules, and so the Conference bowed to the demands, and called off Chester's opener.

Over the weekend, we have now heard that the Conference have been asked by the FA to canvass each Blue Square Premier League club to see if they want Chester City to take part, and have demanded that anything but a unanimous vote will see the Blues kicked out of the BSP.

Early indications show that Chester have the support of the Conference clubs, and hopefully this will be confirmed by the Conference tomorrow morning, after the 10am deadline.

It also looks likely that the Gateshead match will be called off tomorrow, unless the FA seem happy to grant City with that much needed licence to play the game of football.

The saga continues into another week then.

The season starts tomorrow at Grays

Now that Chester have finally been given permission to start the season in the Blue Square Premier League tomorrow at Grays, it's all eyes on the squad, to see what Chester can offer in their match against their opponents.

To be honest, there isn't a great deal of depth to the squad right now, but City are expected to include Michael Lea, the former Man Utd defender, who did well at Scunthorpe, and Tim Ryan, the former Doncaster Rovers defender who is the son of chairman John Ryan.

It looks as though the Blues will be without new Uruguayan signing Fabian Yantorno, and Gregg Blundell, who is back at Chester following his transfer from Darlington.

John Danby will start in goal for City, it was a major surprise to see Danby stay at the Deva following his excellent League performances, but it was a relief for Chester fans when he committed to a new deal at the club.

One signing that is expected to excite the fans is Lewis Alessandra, who has bagged two goals in his two pre-season games in a City shirt, so hopefully he can continue that kind of form, following the news today that he has signed on a month's loan from Oldham Athletic.

Hopefully City can get off to a winning start, and see themselves as -22 points come Saturday night!