Mens 3rd XI

Captain: Chris Faulkner

Men’s 3rd XI vs Winnington Park 2nd XI - Saturday 26th January 2008

Drew 2-2
Scorers: Chadwick, Done
MOM: K Roper

Chester buoyed by the emphatic victory the week before produced a resilient and often dominant performance against a Park side that has led the way for much of the season. Chester had many chances in the opening minutes to score with Done hitting the keeper on consecutive occasions. It took a magic ball to find Chadwick free in the area who obliged by slotting it into the bottom corner. Chester showed some ill disciplined hockey for a short period in which Park capitalized converting a short corner. Done was to convert his next chance, making up for his previous, a deft flick through the advancing keepers' legs. After half time Chester dominated much of the possession and chances but it was unfortunately Park who went on to convert another short corner much to the disappointment of the Chester team. There were chances to win it for both sides in the dying minutes, both teams being stopped by good defensive work. It was a fair result and give Chester confidence for the remainder of the season.

Men’s 3rd XI vs Winnington Park 2nd XI - Saturday 10th November 2007

Lost 1-0

Chester travelled to top of the league Winnington with their tails up from previous weeks. Chester showed a lot of grit and were unfortunate not to find themselves in front at half time, Winnington created little and were given little time to by the excellent Chester defence. Chester tried to take the game to Winnington in the second half and were wasteful with several short corners and for some more imaginative passing could of created more with the field position. Unfortunately Winnington broke and were fortunate to squeeze and short corner past the ‘keepers feet. Chester pressed and tried to find a way through, but it was not to be.

Men’s 3rd XI vs Wrexham 2nd XI - Saturday 3rd November 2007

Won 3-1

Chester put together another clinical performance, they soaked up pressure well. Ben Attwood and Lewis Done providing the guts and guile in the middle of the park. Chester scored first through a well finished short corner from Matt Oakley, they played well without capitalising further in the first half. The second half continued along a similar vain until Degsey rose to strike a ball above shoulder height, bemused he took ten minutes to think about what he had done. Wrexham capitalised immediately through a well deflected goal. When returned to eleven players Chester pressed forward scoring twice more, one a well finished effort from done, the other an individual effort from Chris Nicholas that saw him round the goalkeeper and walk the ball into the Wrexham goal.

Men’s 3rd XI vs Triton Men’s 2nds - Saturday 27th October 2007

Won 3-1

Chester came out fighting in this game, with all personnel ready to stand up and be counted. The first half started briskly with Triton trying to penetrate the Chester D but failing due to some stellar work from debutant Degsey and “twice the man” Hill in central defence. Chester created some chances; Triton worked a short corner into the Chester goal only to find themselves pegged back through a well taken goal from Chris Nicholas. At half time Chester rallied and came out fighting, as did Triton, this sound escalated with both sides seeing yellow and finding the teams match ten to nine in Chester’s favour. Chester got two goals from short corner routines from Matt Oakley, one struck into the bottom corner and the second being nicely deflected by Jack Hargreaves. Chester continued to defend well and closed out the game well, in an almost professional manner.

Men’s 3rd XI vs Tameside 2nd XI - Saturday 20th October 2007

Won 3-1

A win!!!!! Finally the win came; it was not always pretty for Chester in this game, with them often returning to old habits of dribbling too often and being caught in possession. On the whole Chester managed to grind out this result with modicums of success, pride and guile being shown throughout patches of this game. The goals came through Stuart Wood, who relentlessly hit the ball at the keeper’ before finally tiring finding the backboard. Stuart Field who converted a switched short corner routine nicely and Carl Lee who turned nicely in the D to find himself space and converted slowly and calmly into the bottom corner.
MOM - Chris Nicholas, took on players and even managed a pass or two in the process, good stuff!

Men’s 3rd XI vs Knutsford Men’s 2’s - Saturday 13th October 2007

Lost 2-0

Chester put in a ropey performance against a distinctly average Knutsford side, Chester conceding two poor goals along the way. Chester failed to turn any possession that they had into an opportunity and were generally too ready to dribble through players. That said there were two good performances from Matt Oakley and Jack Hargreaves who both got stuck in and tried to steady the overall performance.
MOM - Jack Hargreaves.

Men’s 3rd XI vs Bowdon 5th XI - Saturday 22nd September 2007

Lost 7-4

Chester travelled to Bowdon for a tough season opener. Chester produced some good periods of play that were pleasing and showed that there is hope for the weeks to come. Unfortunately on this occasion the fitness, and youth, of the Bowdon side allowed them to net 3 goals within the last quarter of the game to put it beyond Chester. The Chester goals came from Stuart Wood X 2, Grant McIntyre and Andrew Paterson. Man of the match: Stuart Wood, worked tirelessly to try and keep the Bowdon defence busy.