Boz's Fruit & Veg
FCP
3:00pm - SaturdaySat 17th AugustAug 2013
| Att: 2016

Chester
Chester
0 - 2

Woking
Woking

Cards travel again

Brian Caffarey
2:32pm, Thu 15th Aug 2013
Chester v Woking
3pm on Saturday 17 August 2013

Both sides will be anxious to get something out of this game after disappointing starts to the season. Chester have suffered two defeats so far, whilst Garry Hill’s side have just a point from their opening 0-0 draw at home to Lincoln City, having lost 2-0 at Braintree Town on Tuesday evening.

WOKING

The Cards’ lack of firepower, which saw defender Joe McNerney start up front up at Braintree, hasn’t been helped by the red card shown to Gez Sole on Tuesday, which rules him out for this match plus those against Welling United and Aldershot Town. Jordan Ivey-Ward, a young striker formerly with MK Dons, came on as a sub at Braintree.

Cards fans will be hoping that captain Mark Ricketts will be fit to return at Chester for what will no doubt be a testing encounter in front of some noisy home support.

CHESTER

Following the winding-up of the former Chester City FC in March 2010 a ‘phoenix’ club was formed, which has enjoyed phenomenal success, winning three successive promotions to start life this season in the Conference Premier. The club, managed throughout by Neil Young, amassed a record 107 points last season to lift the Conference North title.

Expectations were high for the present season, with over 1,000 season tickets sold, but the Blues have endured a difficult start so far, losing 3-0 at Barnet on the opening day and then 2-0 at home to Hereford United on Tuesday evening. Young put the reverses down to some defensive naivety. The Chester Board has also had to deal with complaints about the behaviour of some of the club’s fans at both matches.

It’s hard to believe that the club’s early results won’t prove a temporary ‘blip’ since the squad contains some very experienced and capable players, including keeper John Danby, who was with Kidderminster Harriers for five seasons; Gareth Seddon, who was a Conference winner with Fleetwood Town and played for FC Halifax Town last season; striker Jamie Reed, another Conference winner, this time with York City; midfielder Danny Harrison, with some 300 League appearances for Tranmere and Rotherham; and Jason Jarrett, another midfielder, with plenty of experience with Preston and Wigan.

GETTING THERE

Exacta Stadium
Bumpers Lane
Chester
CH1 4LT

Website: www.chesterfc.com

By coach

The Cards Trust coach leaves Kingfield at 9am. £24 members, £31 non-members. Ring (01483 772470) or email (shop@wokingfc.co.uk) to reserve your place.

By car

Head for the M25 and then travel north by M40, M42 and M6 till J16, joining the A500 (Crewe/Nantwich), subsequently following the A51 (Chester/Wrexham), the A49 (Warrington/Chester) and the A51 again (Chester). Follow the signs for Chester City Centre. At the Bars roundabout take the first exit onto the A5268 (North Wales/Wrexham), stay in left-hand lane and continue through traffic signals and at the Grosvenor roundabout take the third exit (A5268 Motorways M53/M56 All through traffic). At Watergate junction take A548 (Queensferry) and then at traffic signals turn left onto Stendhal Road (Sealand Industrial Estate) and bear right onto Bumper’s Lane.

By train

Trains from Euston to Chester leave at 10 and 40 minutes past the hour, with the latter involving a change at Crewe. The 11.10 would get you to Chester at 13.12, while the 11.40, with the change at Crewe, would get you there at 13.46. The 12.10 pulls in at 14.12. Trains on the way back are at 55 minutes past the hour and all involve a change at Crewe. The 17.55 would get you to Euston at 20.04.

NEXT GAME

The Cards are at home to old rivals, newly-promoted Welling United on Saturday 24 August, and then on the Bank Holiday Monday (26 August, 3pm kick-off) they travel to neighbours Aldershot Town for a keenly-awaited local derby. The following Saturday (31 August) Woking are at home to Gateshead. Make sure you’ve got all the dates in your diary!


Come on, you Cards!


Brave Cards Register First Victory of the Season

Jacob Greenwood
7:55pm, Sat 17th Aug 2013
Chester FC 0 Woking 2
Skrill Conference Premier
17th August 2013

Despite being reduced to ten men following the dismissal of Josh Payne shortly before half-time, second-half goals from Gavin Williams and Joe McNerney were enough to secure Woking their first win of the season against Chester at Exacta Stadium.

The visitors made two changes to the team which lost disappointingly at Braintree in midweek. In place of Gavin McCallum and Joe McNerney came fit-again skipper Mark Ricketts and new signing Freddie Ladapo, a twenty-year old striker brought in from Colchester United on a one-month loan deal.

Both teams were searching for their first league goals of the season and Woking started the brighter with Ricketts winning a competitive battle in the centre of midfield and playing through Ladapo, who smashed the ball into John Danby in the Chester goal.

Kevin Betsy troubled the Chester back four with his mazy runs throughout the first half and came close in the 20th minute when he burst through the middle and curled the ball just wide.

Chester fought their way back into the game but rarely troubled the visitors' defence, with possession being wasted with high balls into the opposition box being dealt with well by the Woking back four. Both teams were struggling in the final third and the game got heated late in the first half when, first, Lee Sawyer was booked for a late challenge and then Josh Payne, who went into a tackle with full force, was adjudged to have head-butted the Chester player and was given a straight red card just before the half-time break.

Half-time: Chester FC 0 Woking 0

Woking knew that it would be tough going throughout the second half with only ten men and it almost became a good deal harder just after the break when a ball in from Joe Heath found Gareth Seddon, whose header smashed against the post. Sections of the crowd wrongly thought that the ball was in the net and the feeling amongst the home supporters seemed to be that it was only a matter of time before Chester would notch their first goal of the season.

Despite being a man down, Woking battled their way back into the game and went close when a Betsy pass just missed Ladapo on the edge of the six-yard box. Luckily, Woking were not made to rue this missed chance as minutes later Gavin Williams collected the ball on the left, cut inside and smashed it past Danby and into the top corner of the net for Woking’s first league goal of the season.

Chester were quick to make a substitution but it was to no avail as three minutes later Joe McNerney, who had replaced Ladapo up front, got on the end of a John Nutter free-kick to head the ball home and put Woking 2-0 up, much to the delight of the travelling fans behind the goal.

The home side continued to look for a way back into the game and came close when Seddon pulled off the last man and headed the ball into the ground but Aaron Howe was on hand to tip it over the bar. The Blues were starting to run out of ideas and knew that it wasn’t going to be their day when, with only five minutes left on the clock, Kevin McIntyre’s free-kick into the box missed everybody and crashed against the bar at the back post. This proved to be the last act in an eventful game in which the ten men of Woking claimed their first victory of the season.

Chester: John Danby, Lewis Turner, Joe Heath, George Horan (Jamie Reed 65), Paul Linwood, Danny Harrison, Nathan Turner, Jason Jarett (Craig Mahon 53), Gareth Seddon, Kevin McIntyre, Craig Lindfield (Alex Titchiner 60)

Unused subs: Ashley Williams, Lee Pugh

Woking: Aaron Howe, Adam Newton, John Nutter, Mark Ricketts, Brett Johnson, Lee Sawyer (George Frith 90), Jack Parkinson, Gavin Williams (Gavin McCallum 78), Kevin Betsy, Josh Payne, Freddie Ladapo (Joe McNerney 53)

Unused subs: Sam Beasant, Anthony McNamee

Cautions: Mark Ricketts (24), Lee Sawyer (37)

Sent-off: Josh Payne (43)

Goals: Gavin Williams (58), Joe McNerney (63)

My Man of the Match: Gavin Williams - injected pace into Woking's midfield throughout the match and took his goal well

Attendance: 2016
Chester LINEUP
1John Danby
12Lewis Turner
3Joe Heath ('68)
4George Horan
5Paul Linwood
6Danny Harrison
15Nathan Turner
8Jason Jarrett ('54)
19Gareth Seddon
14Kevin McIntyre
11Craig Lindfield ('61)
BENCH
20Lee Pugh
21Craig Mahon ('54)
22Alex Titchiner ('61)
7Jamie Reed ('68)
16Ashley Williams
WOKING LINEUP
1Aaron Howe
2Adam Newton
3John Nutter
8Jack Parkinson
6Brett Johnson
4Mark Ricketts
20Josh Payne
7Lee Sawyer ('90)
11Kevin Betsy
9Gavin Williams ('79)
22Freddie Ladapo ('53)
BENCH
18Sam Beasant
5Joe McNerney ('53)
16George Frith ('90)
14Anthony McNamee
29Gavin McCallum ('79)

Chester 0 - 2 Woking (Garry Hill Interview)

Gavin Williams Interview

Nick Shaw
6:19pm, Sat 17th Aug 2013
David Holmes speaks to goalscorer Gavin Williams following the Cards' 2-0 win at Chester.



Gavin Williams:








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