Chester City 1 Rotherham United 5

Mar 10 2009 by Paul Wheelock, Chester Chronicle

THE sorry Blues crashed to their biggest home defeat of the season tonight as their winless League Two run stretched to 15 matches.

Kevin Ellison put relegation-threatened City ahead but the in-form Millers, inspired by hat-trick hero Reuben Reid, stormed back to pull clear of the Football League trapdoor.

Chester, with David Mannix in for the injured Damien Mozika, nearly conceded from the first concerted attack of the game in the fourth minute.

Captain and centre-back Paul Linwood’s poor header put Drewe Broughton in the clear, but the striker could not punish his former club as his 20-yard snap shot was turned on to the bar by John Danby.

Rotherham were playing with the confidence of a side unbeaten in five league matches, so it came against the run of play when the Blues went in front for the first time in 11 games in the 14th minute.

Ryan Lowe was the architect, playing a lovely one-touch pass into the path of Ellison, whose delightful first-time effort from 20 yards beat Andy Warrington all ends up.

It was the first league goal the visitors had conceded in nearly nine hours of football, but their rearguard was almost breached again in the 20th minute when Lowe’s free kick forced Warrington into a sprawling save.

It was the Millers who struck next, however, in the 26th minute when Reid slotted in a penalty following a handball in the box by Kevin Roberts, who claimed he had been fouled.

The hosts nearly regained the advantage moments later when Laurence Wilson set off on a mazy run before letting fly with an angled 25-yard drive which Warrington did well to turn around the post.

City were on top but Rotherham took the lead six minutes before the break when Jamie Green’s cross from the left was headed past Danby from close range by the unmarked Micky Cummins.

And it got worse for Mark Wright’s men in the second minute of first-half injury-time when Reid’s cross from the right hit Roberts and then hit Broughton and cannoned into the net.

It was a lucky strike but there was nothing fortuitous about Reid’s second of the night five minutes after the restart, as the Millers top-scorer cut in from the right and cracked a left-footed shot that Danby could only help into the top corner.

The superb Reid, now leading Chester’s defence a merry dance, nearly completed his hat-trick in the 59th minute when his fierce drive crashed against the bar.

But, after substitute Richie Partridge stung the hands of Warrington, Reid was not to be denied as he rifled in from 20 yards to make it five in the 73rd minute.

CHESTER: Danby, Vaughan, Rule, Linwood, Roberts, Wilson, Harris, Barry, Mannix (Partridge 50), Ellison, Lowe. Subs: Smith, Owen, Rutherford, Jones.

BOOKED: Harris.

GOAL: Ellison 14.

ROTHERHAM: Warrington, Tonge (Joseph 73), Sharps, Fenton, Green, Mills (Harrison 71), Hudson, Cummins, Clarke, Broughton (R Taylor 75), Reid. Subs: Cann, J Taylor.

BOOKED: Tonge.

GOALS: Reid 26pen, 50, 73, Cummins 38, Broughton 45.

REFEREE: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire).

ATTENDANCE: 1,235 (77 away).