CHESTER last night signed the Rochdale goalkeeper Jamie Spencer on loan, and the 6ft 4ins shot stopper will go straight into the City side who face fellow strugglers Macclesfield in a crucial Coca Cola League Two fixture at the Deva Stadium tomorrow.
With the Football Association offices closed today because of the Bank Holiday, City’s hard-working secretary Tony Allan eventually received confirmation of the temporary transfer with just 15 minutes to spare last night.
Spencer, 24, started his career with Stockport County before moving to Rochdale in the summer of 2007. The player has made over 100 Football League appearances since making his debut for the Edgeley Park club at the age of 16.
Chester received special dispensation to sign Spencer, after regular keeper John Danby was ruled out for the remainder of the season, after picking up a shoulder ligament injury at Notts County last weekend.
The player who took over from Danby at Meadow Lane for the final tense minutes of last Saturday’s match was City’s leading scorer Ryan Lowe, and the 30 year old striker is looking forward to tomorrow’s match.
“We are unbeaten in four games and if we can keep that up and play the way we played at Notts County, then we have a good chance against Macclesfield. Bournemouth have still got to come to us and there are few other teams around us who we could drag into it, so in many ways League safety is in our own hands.
“Every game is tough but Notts County are a big club and we went there and came close to giving them a hiding. If we hadn’t lost John Danby we could easily have gone on to get another goal and make it three.
“Noone wants to go home after every game saying you’ve been beaten again, so you’ve got to have the strength and the mentality not to let that happen. So fair play to the lads for the way they have gone out there these last four weeks.”
City manager Mark Wright is hopeful that injury victims Kevin Ellison, Lawrence Wilson, Shaun Kelly and Damian Mozika will be fit enough to take their places in tomorrow’s squad.
Chester City (from): Spencer, J. Vaughan, Rule, Linwood, Roberts, Wilson, Kelly, Barry, Mozika, Harris, Mannix, Ellison, Rutherford, Owen, Partridge, Lowe, Jones, R. Williams, Ellams.
