Report
from Muhz.
Great City Turnout in a very small ground. I'd estimate at least about 750 or
so in largely very good spirits. City were really quite poor and only forced
one save from the Chester Keeper in the first half. Hallworth was kept busy
throughout and gave a good account of himself. Eckhard too looked very
effective in the first half.
Second half we weren't much better until just before our goal. Far post cross
right in front of us - Jarman gets it in with some part of his body - cue big
celebrations.
Lapse of concentration saw the lead last only 2 minutes, then about five later
we were 2-1 down after a series of defensive errors including a rare slip
(almost a missed tackle) by Hallworth. Braziers goal was actually an own goal
off defenders knee and rolled agonisingly (for the keeper) over the line. A
bit like the first goal it was right in front of me and so gave us a rare
treat seeing the agony on the face of defender and keeper. Our two goals
couldn't have been a bigger contrast to last week, with no style about them
and a total distance of about six and a half feet.
Defensively we looked solid most of the time but prone to silly lapses. I
have some Big concerns about the inability of the forwards to score, and on
todays showing neither they nor anybody else seemed to know where the goal
was. too many players either drifted in and out or were completely anonymous.
I don't have time to do a full report here but I'd give nugent a vote of
confidence for the way he wants to hold play up and wait for support from the
middle.
Unbeaten and rather lucky.Report from
Stewie
The first half was a bit of a non event, Chester had pace up front in Rod
Thomas and he was well supported by their numbers 4 and 11, a few last
ditch tackles, by Eckhardt in particular stopped John Halworth from having
to perform more miracles and walk off with the man of the match award AGAIN.
However, Halworth did have to make a tremendous block when the Chester No.
11 produced a fine dribble into the City area, he passed a couple of City
defenders with the performance of a "Lollipop", as BFR would say, only to
see his shot blocked by the legs of an advancing Halworth. The resultant
corner was swung in and met firmly by an unmarked Chester player whose
powerful downward header was flicked off the line by the right hand of
Hallworth, whose reflexes were faster than a Cuban running from a Hurricane
! The ball was eventually hoofed up the park.
City only brought one save out of the Chester keeper and that was a weak
shot from Nugent which the keeper got down to and held on to quite
comfortably. General consensus was that a single goal would nick this
match, otherwise it would end up nil - nil. Which probably goes to show why
I'm doing so badly in the predictions league.
Highlight of the first half came during a stoppage due to injury, when the
Cardiff fans decided to keep themselves amused by requesting the City
players to 'do the Ayatollah' one after another, having gone through the
majority of team with them all responding by performing the Ayatollah
(except Brazier, but we'll let him off as he is only a loan player),
Frankie Burrows was asked and he responded by doing it. Having exhausted
the Cardiff posibilities of doing the Ayatollah, this only left us to
request Chester to do the Ayatollah, unfortunately, I don't think they had
a clue, their loss.
Half Time Chester 0 Cardiff 0
The second half started in much the same vein as the first half ended.
Though, after about 10 minutes Eckhardt was taken off, he must have picked
up a knock because he was certainly playing well, he was replaced by Lee
Jarman, at the same time Frankie must have had a word with Brazier because
instead of just staying out on the left wing, he started moving more and
more inside looking for the ball, in fact at one point, he moved so far
inside that he ended up all the way back outside on the right wing ! He was
by far our best player and if anyone looked like breaking down the Chester
defences it was him.
Twenty minutes into the second half, Delaney ran down the right wing with
the ball but he lost his fotting and fell over just as the defender was
going to make the challenge. Imagine our amusement when the referee gave a
free kick. Brazier went across to swing the free kick in with his left
foot, it looked to have been played too long but there, just beyond the
back post Jarman leapt above eveyone else to power his header down towards
the goal line, where the keeper and a defender tried to keep the ball from
crossing the line, but Nugent was also there preventing them from clearing
the ball and in fairness he did get the Cardiff touch before the ball
crossed the line, but there was no way Jarman was going to let anyone steal
that goal away from him.
Unfortunately his resultant celebration was to run to the City fans just 2
yards away behind the goal in which he had just scored, you can guess the
rest, surge of fans, police get uppity, 2 more people ejected from the
ground. Crass policing.
So quick was Chesters' reply, that I missed it, as I was engaged in
celebration chanting 1 nil to the sheep shaggers. I had a clear view of
their gut churning second goal though, just 2 minutes later, when a through
ball was being marshalled back to Hallworth by Jarman but his back pass
was well under hit and the Ros Thomas nipped in to say thank you very much,
I didn't know it was my birthday, but I'll take it all the same. Even if he
didn't say that, he had the time to as he walked the ball into the net.
Well, that was that, or so we thought, until with 10 minutes to go, Frankie
made an inspired substution bringing on big John Williams for Dai Thomas.
BTW are substitutions anything but inspired ? All Williams brough to the
game was the opportunity for City to hump long balls upfield for him to try
and latch onto. Which he actually did once, his knock down found Delaney
who crossed into the box at waist height, which is awkward to defend as you
have to decide whether to stoop down to head clear or trying to get your
leg high enough to volley clear, the Chester defender obviously had this
dilemma, as he did neither and the ball rebounded off his midriff past a
stranded keeper who could only help the ball over the line.
Final score CCFC 2 CCFC 2
Probably a fair result.
Regards.
Report from NigelBlues
What's the point of watching the first half of City games anymore? On this 5
match unbeaten run, now 4 wins and a draw, 11 or the 12 goals for and against
have been in the 2nd half! Rochdale's opener last week is the sole exception.
Not only that but City hardly seem to do anything in the 1st half of games.
Nice straightforward drive to Chester but getting through it and to the ground
is a different matter altogether. The City Centre and roads were packed solid
by those wanting to shop and admire the place.
Also made the fatal mistake of passing some great looking pubs on the entry to
Chester to stop at one near the ground instead - there weren't any! So headed
back to nearest water-hole, The Watergate Inn, outside Chester racecourse and
about 2 miles before the ground. Loads of City fans filled the place with a
handful of Chester in the corner. Plenty of City fans there had taken "the
other half" and dropped them into the centre as a bribe so they could go the
the game. The sacrifices people make to watch the Bluebirds!
The ground is in the middle of nowhere - at the very end of an industrial
estate of factory units. If your idea of the perfect day is to looks at
ceramics, buy a kitchen sink, check out a scrap yard, get paint at trade
prices and then see a game of football - there's probably no better place in
the country.
The ground itself is functional. Very small with stands along both the sides
and terracing behind both goals. City had the terrace end in England and
Chester's end is in Wales - I think they got their planning wrong. The steps,
like Halifax, were quite high so it offer good views to all and you were close
to the pitch.
City started reasonably, nice play, nice moves but as is
becoming the "norm",
no real cutting edge or penetration. Brazier was the only one who looked like
slicing Chester open. Frankie yet again says about poor service but our
strikers are not mobile in the penalty area either which doesn't help - they
won very few challenges in the box.
Best chance was a great Thomas flick on put Nugent clear but his cross-shot
was well saved. Chester, although not getting the greater possession, had the
best chances. A midfielder skipped through about 3 woeful tackles forcing
Hallworth to make a good save. From the resulting corner, Hallworth made
another fine save to beat away a powerful header.
The only other highlight of the half was City players taking it in turns to do
the Ayatollah when the game stopped for a couple of minutes for an injury
(strange that the ref, poor officiating again, only found 1 minute injury
time!). City fans called out to each of them in turn, then the Chester
stewards who did it
HT Chester 0 City 0
Chester started to exert pressure in the 2nd half and the ominous sign was the
winger Rod Thomas running at the defence and going past Mitchell every time.
He looks more solid when challenging and in the air, his distribution has
improved but I don't think he can tackle to save his life when someone takes
him on .
Bonner had a good chance early in the 2nd half when the ball dropped to him on
the edge of the area but he blasted wide to narrowly miss knocking out Muhz
(complete with the St Davids Cross flag), Stewie with his Notting Hill
carnival horn trying his worst to compete with the Chester drummer (eat your
heart out Dai Hunt!) and myself.
Another worrying sign came a few minutes later when Eckhardt went off. Jeff
was playing really well but this is now standard. He was replaced by Jarman
who, within 10 minutes, became a hero and a villain.
Just after the hour, a floated Brazier free-kick across the area was met by
Jarman storming in at the far post and headed back across goal but it took a
deflection and in it went. Jarman's goal though. Chester players were strewn
on the floor as Jarman, Nugent and Scott Young were round the back of the
goal with us.
We got as far as singing "1-0 to the shee.." but were cut off as Chester
equalised from the kick-off. Thomas got the ball wide, went past Mitchell as
though he wasn't there and hit a shot cum cross along the floor which Priest
turned in.
And like we did last week, 4 minutes later Chester were ahead. A ball was
knocked towards the City goal but Jarman was in charge. However he totally
underhit his back pass, leaving Thomas to nip in between him and Hallworth and
stroke the ball in an empty net.
City brought on Middleton and Williams (for Bonner and Thomas) but despite
some nice Delaney runs and surges by Brazier, it looked over when we equalised
through a big stroke of luck.
From a corner, the ball was played back to Middleton who hit a good cross but
Brazier missed the ball totally and it fell onto the Chester no 6 who,
although in no danger, let the ball hit him on the knees and past the
despairing dive of his keeper. The agony on his face was a picture. Chester
tannoy and the media gave Brazier the goal but they may as well have given my
name - it was a definite o.g.
City nearly let Chester in towards the end but didn't come close again - a
draw was just about deserved but we were lucky.
Both goals had an element of luck but they were from set pieces. Yet again,
neither goal was from a striker which remains a major concern.
Not the same thrill coming home as a win but I'll take it. 13 pts from 5
games in September is a tremendous return. And let's be honest, for the 3rd
game running, City have come back in the second half to get a result and won 7
pts in the process. That says a lot about their effort and determination
which deserves respect. Under Hibbitt, we may have got 2 draws at best. But
the squad must be strengthened further if this is to be a serious promotion
challenge.
Let's hope the run keeps going - with Brighton at home and Hull away in the
next fortnight, both in the bottom 4, we must be looking for maximum points.
Report from Matchfacts
Cardiff maintained their impressive recent form thanks to a Matt Brazier header 11 minutes
from time. An all action contest could have gone either way with an entertaining second
half producing all four goals. The visitors, who had won their previous four matches, were
in the driving seat after 62 minutes thanks to a Jarman far post header but the home side
hit back immediately. Priest equalised 60 seconds later and then the home side surged
ahead through Thomas in the 68th minute. There was plenty of good football produced by
both sides to richly
entertain a 2,800 crowd
GOALS
0-1 Cardiff 62 mins Jarman
Brazier free kick on the right was whipped to the far post where substitute Jarman powered
home a close range header, the ball bundled over
the line despite Chester's attempts to clear the danger
1-1 Chester 63 mins Priest
a smart turn and low cross by Thomas on the right was diverted home by the unmarked Priest
2-1 Chester 68 mins Thomas
Hallworth made a mess of a Jarman backpass, Thomas nipped in and rolled the ball into an
empty net from an acute angle on the right
2-2 Cardiff 79 mins Brazier
a Craig Middleton cross found Brazier in the middle of the area and his flick header
rolled into the bottom left hand corner, with the ball
appearing to be deflected off defender Matt Woods
Shots On Target: Chester 4, Cardiff 3
Corners: Chester 7, Cardiff 5 |
