Dover Athletic 1, Chester 1

Apr 4 2001 Chester Chronicle Series

CHESTER brought the smile back to Graham Barrow's face after the FA Trophy defeat at Canvey Island by battling for a point at Dover on Tuesday.

The City boss needed a lift ahead of tomorrow's return match in the Trophy and he got it with a performance which showed much more commitment than Saturday.

'We battled well to come from behind and we deserved a point,' he said. 'I was pleased and all credit to the lads for bouncing back.' A point isn't particularly significant in the scheme of things in the Conference now Chester are well out of contention for the title, but the game seemed to get the Trophy out of their system and marked the return of influential midfielder Chris Blackburn after a long lay-off with a foot injury.

'He did very well,' added Barrow. 'Considering it was his first match for sometime his fitness looked good.' City looked up against it when Dover took the lead just before the interval when Lee Shearer powered a header past goalkeeper Phil Priestley following a Steve Norman corner.

It didn't take Chester long to get the equaliser they deserved, although there was a touch of luck about it. Blackburn's shot looked well off target, but Steve Whitehall showed his predatory skills by pouncing to steer the ball home.

Surprisingly, they failed to take the intiative and Dover had the best of the rest of the match and were unfortunate when Danny Hockton beat Priestley only to see Martyn Lancaster clear the ball off the line.

Dover: Hyde Munday, Norman, Leberl, Shearer, Beard, Carruthers (McRoberts 16), Strouts, Vansittart, Brown (Hockton 76), Chapman. Subs: Hales, Lebihan, Okafor.

Chester: Priestley, Moss, Ruscoe, Lancaster, Woods, P Beesley, Blackburn, Porter (Woodyatt 75), Haarhoff (Berry 68), Whitehall, Wright. Subs: Gaunt, Roberts.

Referee: K Reynolds.

Attendance: 1,112.