Chester's fine run is ended by Lincoln

Oct 6 2008

CHESTER CITY were brought down to earth with a bump on Saturday, when a lack-lustre performance saw them lose their five match unbeaten Coca-Cola League Two run, and hand Lincoln City their first away win of the season.

City manager Simon Davies summed up the feelings of many after the game when he reflected: “There were too many players who just didn’t perform as we know they can.

“We didn’t impose ourselves in the key areas, and I’m afraid we got what we deserved.

“Lincoln seemed to want it more than we did, but hopefully this was a blip and we must now focus on the next game and ensure we bounce back.”

In truth, Chester were virtually second best in most departments.

But the sad thing was that Lincoln were low in confidence after a poor start to the season, and the home side allowed them to dominate, particularly in midfield, which saw their confidence levels visibly rise with every passing minute.

Ironically, Chester had the better of the early exchanges, Ellison headed wide twice early on, and Ryan Lowe fired wide from 15 yards.

Lincoln began to settle and gradually they took control of proceedings.

Clarke brought out a save by Danby with a snap shot, and Frecklington glanced a header wide from close range.

The visitors took the lead two minutes into added time in the first period.

A corner on the left from Kerr was headed goalwards by Hungarian defender Janos Kovacs, and the ball rolled past City’s static defenders and into the net.

Twelve minutes into the second period Adrian Patulea effectively wrapped the points up, when he took advantage of more lack-lustre defending to score from close range.

Chester did rally towards the end of the game, and Lawrence Wilson was unlucky when a 25-yard pile driver rattled the visitors’ bar before going to safety, but City will reflect on a performance that was not too dissimilar from the unacceptable levels that saw them lose their opening four competitive games of the campaign.

City have an opportunity to quickly bounce back from Saturday’s performance, they face Morecambe in the second round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at the Deva Stadium tomorrow night (kick off 7pm).

CHESTER CITY: @Danby, J Vaughan, Linwood, Kelly, Wilson, Mozika, S Vaughan (Barry 73), Hughes, McManus (Taylor 58), Lowe (Partridge, 59), Ellison. Subs: Harris, Rutherford.

LINCOLN CITY: @Burch, Green, Hone, Kovacs, Beevers, Frecklington (Brown 46), Kerr, Clarke, John-Lewis, Patulea, N’guessan. Subs: Duffy, Gall, Wright, Mullarkey.

REFEREE:@ Mr Oliver Langford (West Midlands).

ATT: @1,962.