Chester City 2, Doncaster Rovers 0

Jan 22 2001 by Ian Bedford

CHESTER'S appetite for a cup battle was as keen as ever as they made a winning FA Umbro Trophy debut in a muscular clash against their former Football League rivals.

Fears they could have shot their bolt following their glorious failure at Ewood Park the previous week were soon dispelled and the game was effectively won by half-time.

By then Chester were 2-0 up and holding all the aces against a Doncaster team more interested in intimidation than victory. City boss Graham Barrow, who feared this third confrontation of the season with Rovers had all the signs of being a battle, was delighted his team had stood up to the physical pressure.

'We defended well and I was pleased to win, but I thought we could have got a bit more out of it,' he said. 'I was also pleased we managed to pick it up following the defeat at Blackburn.' City looked the more threatening side from the start and could have scored when Scott Ruscoe and Mark Beesley both missed the target from decent positions, but it took a huge slice of luck to break the deadlock.

Rovers' goalkeeper Barry Richardson pulled off a stunning save from Carl Ruffer following Paul Carden's pass, but less than two minutes later he suffered the massive embarrasment of miskicking the ball trying to clear Andy Porter's pass and Steve Whitehall pounced to stroll the ball into an empty net.

Six minutes later Whitehall headed home a Ruscoe cross to double the lead and from then on the result was little more than a formality, apart from Wayne Brown's save from Kevin McIntyre early in the second half.

Chester City: Brown, Moss (Woodyat 90), Ruscoe, Lancaster, Ruffer, P Beesley, Carden, Porter, M Beesley, Whitehall, Blackburn (Woods 86). Subs: Wright, Kerr, Berry.

Booked: Porter, Ruffer, Brown, Moss.

Doncaster Rovers: Richardson, Marples (Alford 84), Shaw, Hawkins, Stone (Price 26), Kelly (Watson 76), Paterson, Penney, Campbell, Whitman, McIntyre. Subs: Caudwell, Warrington.

Booked: Shaw, Kelly, Campbell, Paterson, McIntyre.

Referee: G Salisbury.

Attendance: 1,479.