Hayes & Yeading 0 Chester City 0

The Blues wasted a great chance to get 3 points from this encounter, and completed a week which could have left their survival hopes in tatters as Chester had to settle for their sixth successive away draw at Hayes & Yeading.

To make matters worse, Tim Ryan's side were unable to take advantage of Hayes being not just one one player down, but two, with 16 minutes still to play in the game, but Chester found themselves on the back foot rather than pressing for a much needed victory.

The table does not paint a pretty picture now, what with City still 24 points away from safety, and 12 points from the first 14 games of the season is a poor poor showing, and the matches are drifting away from the Blues, with only a maximum of 96 points now available.

Anthony Barry had Chester's best chance but that smacked against the crossbar, and that was pretty much it, but it could have been worse, as City conceded a penalty on 30 minutes, after Kevin Roberts was adjudged to have fouled Sean Canham, who picked himself up but blazed over the bar to let City off the hook.

Five minutes later and the hosts were down to 10 men, thanks to Rambir Marwa's straight red card following a challenge on loanee Clark Keltie.

City should have taken a grip on the game here, and moreso when Scott Fitzgerald was booked for the second time in the game and received his marching orders, with still 16 minutes left on the clock.

But City were unable to conjure up a winner, and left Hayes & Yeading knowing that they had blown their chance to get to -11 points in the table.

Ryan gets ready to rally the troops!

In a week where Chester City fans have yet again been put through the pain of another defeat, and another sacking of a manager – the 11th in 7 years, and the club heading for a nightmare relegation season – the 3rd in the last decade, the players get ready for tomorrow’s match at Conference newcomers Hayes & Yeading.


Tim Ryan is in place as caretaker manager for tomorrow, and we will see just what impact he can have on the team, which under Mick Wadsworth achieved only 2 wins during his 94 day reign, and most of that was in the summer outside of Chester’s notorious start to this season.
City will be even more depleted for tomorrow’s game, as Ryan himself serves a suspension for accruing 5 yellow cards so soon in the season. Rhys Meynell could have stepped in to cover, but he suffered ankle ligament damage in his brief spell on the pitch against Forest Green the other night.
City are going to be stretched defensively of course, having seen Chris Lynch return to Burnley following the moment in the Wrexham derby where he sustained cruciate ligament damage and consequently missed the rest of the season.

Chester need goals and tomorrow they are likely to have Gregg Blundell alongside Nick Chadwick, but it’s in midfield where problems lie, as City lack creativity, something they have missed since the days of Alex Smith.

Let’s hope for a win tomorrow as Chester’s immediate target must be to get into single minus figures, something they are currently 5 points off doing.

Come on you blues!!