Chester v Scunthorpe United

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Football League Two

Chester :
Brown (MacKenzie 60), Hillier, Bolland, Bayliss, Hessey, Drummond, Carden, Davies (Brown 77), Ellison, Branch, Belle
Subs not used:
Vaughan, Rapley, Whalley

Scunthorpe United :
Musselwhite, Byrne (Stanton 45), Crosby, Butler, Ridley, Taylor, Sparrow, Baraclough, Beagrie, Hayes, Torpey
Subs not used:
Jackson, Barwick, Parton, Evans

SULSESC REPORT

by Andy Skeels at Saunders Honda Stadium

A 15-MINUTE delay in departure from Leatherhead to scrape the ice off the car windscreen certainly didn't augur well for the long haul up to Cheshire for this Boxing Day fixture.

An overnight freeze cast doubts over whether the match would be played, but with neither Sky Sports nor Radio

Five Live suggesting any problems ahead, it was on to the M1 and M25 for a rendezvous with Messrs. Loy and Borrill in Milton Keynes.

Mr. Loy, the Ipswich darts captain, was tagging along on our 'club trip' to tick off Chester in his quest to finally complete the 92 grounds. Mr. Borrill and myself could only offer insanity as our reason for forsaking the warmth of home to slog from one end of the country to the other - although the prospect of United setting a new club record for consecutive victories was perhaps another.

Having successfully switched to a cross-country route to avoid a reported 30-car pile-up which had closed the northbound M6, we finally arrived in Chester shortly after 1.30 pm. And after failing to find a reasonable boozer within close proximity to the ground, and being refused entry to the home fans' social club because it was members only - contradicting what one of the programme sellers had informed us - we unfortunately found ourselves in the away end shortly after 2.15 pm.

The only good news was that we were first in the queue for pies, Mr. Borrill setting a precedent with his choice of sausage roll AND pie. Just as well seeing as they ran out only minutes later.

On to the game itself...and what a start! Only a couple of minutes on the clock and a brisk opening from the Iron was rewarded when Steve Torpey nipped in at the far post to latch onto Cleveland Taylor's cross (or was it a shot?) and steer the ball home from close range.

Our early domination was not to last for too long, however, as some shocking defending enabled Chester's Ellison to level for the home side on 18 minutes.

Chester's, shall we say, robust approach seemed designed to knock the Iron out of their stride and achieved its aim, as we struggled to find the fluency and rhythm that has been a hallmark of most recent performances in our winning streak.

Baraclough seemed to spend most of the match swapping blood-stained shirts for fresh ones, and being bandaged, as Chester certainly got 'stuck in'.

There were chances at both ends in the second-half for either of the teams to snatch a winner, Torpey notably missing United's clearest opening when he lifted the ball over home substitute 'keeper MacKenzie but unfortunately also steered it just wide of the post at the same time.

In the end, we were happy with a point from what had been a difficult match, the draw extending our unbeaten sequence in league and cup to 12 games but ending hopes of that new club record.

With home games against Notts County and Darlington next up, the chance is there to really push ahead with the promotion challenge...