Awayday pressure is just the ticket

Feb 29 2008 by David Triggs, Chester Chronicle

BOBBY Williamson knows Chester City will have their work cut out this week when they hit the road for two of the toughest away assignments in League Two – but he’s ready to meet the challenge head on.

The Blues boss isn’t afraid of the pressure that comes from facing table-topping MK Dons tomorrow and fourth-placed Darlington on Tuesday, and he hopes his players feel the same way.

Williamson said: “Pressure’s pressure – it doesn’t matter whether you’re at the top of the league, at the bottom or somewhere in the middle.

“You put pressure on yourself as a professional to do well. You want to do well for your fans, your chairman and your directors.

“You deal with the pressure appropriately. I’m an experienced manager. I’ve experienced all kinds of sorts of pressures in football, and that’s the way I like it. If there’s no pressure, there’s no point.”

A much-needed dose of confidence was injected back into City’s players following last Saturday’s 3-1 victory at Mansfield – their first win in 13 games.

There is now a healthy cushion between the Blues and the relegation places, although they still probably need to collect another 10 points before the end of the season to put any lingering fears of the drop to bed.

Williamson is just pleased to have ended that miserable run.

He said: “Confidence is a big thing in football. You can tell when a player is playing with confidence and when one is not. We’ve had quite a few for a few weeks now playing without any confidence.

“It’s been very, very hard for them and, to be fair, the fans have been great. They’ve stuck behind them.”

City make their first ever trip to “stadium:mk” tomorrow to face a Dons side still on a high from Monday’s dramatic Johnstone’s Paint Trophy semi-final win over Swansea City.

But while Paul Ince’s men now have a trip to Wembley to look forward to thanks to their penalty shoot-out success over the Swans, their priority remains promotion and they will start as clear favourites against the Blues.

Williamson said: “It doesn’t concern me where we go and play or who we go and play.

“This is a difficult division and anybody can beat anybody.”

With Nathan Lowndes still sidelined, Chester’s only fresh injury concern surrounds skipper Paul Butler. The former MK Dons defender could miss the game against his old club after being forced out of the Mansfield victory at half-time with a knock.

Even if Butler is passed fit, Williamson will have to make at least one change to his starting line-up as midfielder Mark Hughes begins a two-match ban for picking up 10 yellow cards this season.